


The Zeroth Law

by MysteryMuse



Category: Rockman X | Mega Man X
Genre: Canon-Typical Violence, Cliffhangers, Epic Battles, Friendship, Gay Robots, Lies, M/M, Maverick Hunters, Past Mind Control, Reploid Politics, Secret Relationship, The Holy Trio, Work Up For Adoption
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-09-27
Updated: 2013-09-27
Packaged: 2017-12-27 18:58:19
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 10
Words: 24,173
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/982446
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MysteryMuse/pseuds/MysteryMuse
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Mistakes made in the past are the only reason Reploids even exist - that's what Zero believes. A newly Maverick X thinks it's time to burn the whole world down and start over. Axl just wants his friends to be okay. Wily wants to win; Light wants to fix his mistakes. And the fate of the world teeters dangerously between all of these points of view. (fixed format errors - oops!)</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prologue

  
If you had asked either of them how it'd happened, they probably wouldn't have been able to explain. Maybe it was the heat of the fight they'd just survived- too much adrenaline, too much blood, too much pressure to be released with just a simple sigh and a lowering of arms.  
  
Sigma, again. Always, ALWAYS Sigma at the end, and the ancient warriors had once again just scraped through it by the skin of their teeth- X had lost his buster-arm and Zero was badly burned and battered. Smoke and small fires made the air harsh and hazy, tasting of ruin. Whirling holographic stars flickered in and out of life along the walls that surrounded them, shining and then scattering in fits of static. At the back of the chamber, a throne was cracked down the center.  
  
They stumbled across the ruined floor and crashed together with dizzy gasps and half-laughs; after a moment of sizing up each other's damages they embraced furiously, clinging to each other with pained expressions.  
  
"You were good," Zero rasped, pride in his friend and rage for his enemy still warring on his pale, bruised face. "You were so good. I can't believe the bald-headed bastard got me down for the count AGAIN." He frowned and lifted the stump of X's ruined weapon-arm gently, frowning into it. "How bad does it hurt?"  
  
X shook his head, light flashing down a severe crack in his helmet that ran from his left temple to the crown. He couldn't find words to speak; there was nothing he could say that would express everything he felt. His head was pounding, and he'd gone numb some time before; he couldn't remember when. "Can't really feel it," he murmured, turning weary green eyes to Zero's face and giving his best attempt at a reassuring smile.  
  
Maybe it was a strange impulse, but Zero was given to strange impulses. At the moment there was nothing more beautiful, he thought, than X's quiet stoicism. _X was beautiful._ Something inside Zero just shattered then, broke wide open, and to his own surprise he found himself lowering his mouth to the torn edge of X's broken arm and pressing a tiny, shaking kiss against it. It was holy, a holy wound, as X was utterly sacred, and Zero couldn't have explained why he thought so just then, but it didn't matter. He was on his knees in another moment, hands pressed to X's narrow hips, cheek brushing X's right thigh where a stray plasma bolt had seared a black hole in the azure armor.  
  
X stared at Zero, numb and blank, but Zero raised his head not even remotely apologetic, even a little daring. Pride and grief and something else roared from his eyes, and the sudden ferocity of Zero's gaze made X gasp, as if he'd been physically stricken. He felt a sharp pain pierce his chest, and he vaguely recalled another time where something sharp and hot had seared straight through him with Zero this close.  
  
"g...get up," the blue Hunter gasped, "I don't..." _deserve._ But his own legs gave out, and he folded down and Zero caught him up and oh, X thought, this was all just too damn MUCH, a shock on a shock, and he wanted to protest. _No_ , he wanted to scream at Zero for his selfishness and he wanted so desperately to be the brilliant light he saw pouring out of the other Hunter- _how DARE you put me on a pedestal, Zero, how DARE you when YOU'RE the one who dies for me, for all of us, without a second thought, YOU'RE the one that's always been fearless..._  
  
X squirmed in frustration- he loved the red Hunter more than anything in the world, but Zero was doing the same thing everyone else did, thinking about him in a selfish way and projecting things he couldn't possibly really be into him. It was a truth X had never let himself touch before; from Sigma to Zero to everyone in between he'd somehow become the singular representation of everything Reploid, and he was SICK of being used.  
  
X slapped Zero, a swift blow that fell hard across the other Hunter's perfect cheekline, but he regretted it instantly, and as the tiny blood vessels shattered under the red Hunter's skin, ( _so perfectly human why can't we just be careless like the humans are, Zero_ ) X stared at the bruise he'd left on his best friend, and hated his own resentments most of all.  
  
"Zero, I..."  
  
Zero bared his teeth, canines showing, and growled. They were the best partners because they understood each other perfectly, and he knew exactly why X had lashed out just then, and hell, probably, he deserved that and more. But Zero countered by tugging X closer against his chest. "Nuh-uh. Not letting go. Not even if you push me away." A wolfish grin. "I like you too much."  
  
The blue Hunter grimaced, remorse flooding him, and he buried himself in his partner's neck. "I... I like you, too." It was almost a sob. His good hand dug at Zero's shoulder, gripping hard enough to leave dents. "This isn't fair."  
  
Zero tutted, carressing the back of X's head in gentle strokes. "Probably not. You deserve better than a beat-up old piece of shit like me." A wry sigh, as his chest fluttered. He really loved X, didn't he? It wasn't just the heat of the moment, the pure rush of just plain having survived. And there was no mistaking it. X was his, all the way. "A lot better."  
  
"They'll say we've gone Maverick," X whispered, but Zero just laughed.  
  
"They can just try it."  
  
X grimaced and, trying to wriggle away from the terrible new awareness growing inside, resumed burrowing into Zero's shoulder. "It's too... it'd be too easy, Zero. I can't give them that kind of weapon against us."  
  
Now, it was Zero's turn to cringe. _The humans_. Red drumbeats roared in his ears. "You are NOT going to tell me that I can't feel this way because it's POLITICALLY INCONVENIENT FOR YOU, X!"  
  
X's eyes flared as his head snapped up. The crack in his helmet spread. "Zero, I'm not telling you what to FEEL, I'm telling you what the FACTS are! I can't hide this from anyone! I can't hide what I feel! It's not... it's not my WAY, okay? I can't sneak around with you in the shadows, and try to act like there's nothing there when people can see us! You don't understand how dangerous this is- what a dangerous TIME this is for all of us. It would KILL me if they broke us up, took you away from me, or tried to..."  
  
"...retire me," Zero said, squeezing his eyes closed against a sudden surge of emotion that sapped the strength from his body. "Shit."  
  
X sighed, nodding. "I need you too much to lose you."  
  
Zero's face twisted. "You know, sometimes I regret switching sides, X. Mavericks don't have to give a shit. I'd take you hostage right now and we'd go somewhere, I dunno, deep inside a mountain or something, and I'd just... we could... _disappear_."  
  
The blue Hunter smiled sadly, touching Zero's cheek with his thumb. "You're not a Maverick any more. You're a Maverick Hunter."  
  
"I could turn back any time," Zero threatened, letting the dangerous words drift free. Blond hair formed a splintered halo along the floor below his shoulders as he leaned back on his arms and stared up at the broken ceiling. "When do we Reploids get to just live?"  
  
X let out his own frustrations in a hollow whisper, eyes veiled by shadow. "Not until we all let go of our illusions. Reploids and humans can't co-exist as long as humans demand obedience and reploids cling to pride."  
  
Zero rose to his feet with a tired grunt. From the floor, X watched him, weary and concerned.  
  
"We're too deep in the fortress for radios to reach us," Zero began, almost too casually. "Nobody knows what happened here." He didn't look at X then, but was staring at the ruins of the throne Sigma's latest form had occupied, grimly thoughtful.  
  
For a moment, X felt utterly defeated- broken in a way that Sigma's violence had not been able to inflict. A terrible chill traveled down his back, a sense of foreboding in the sight of Zero's jaw and neck hardening.  
  
"We could have died here, and nobody would ever know otherwise."  
  
X forced himself to stand, staring at the red Hunter, beginning to tremble. "Zero."  
  
"I fucking _hate my life_ ," Zero murmured. "I don't want to let go of you, but I don't want to hurt you. I don't want to give up these feelings, but going back with you and trying to pretend I don't have them to please some meat puppets who don't even know us..." He shivered. "What am I supposed to do, X? I'd rather be dead than sit around on an invisible leash, terrified of the moment that it chokes me if I don't move the right way... Sigma must be laughing his ass off in hell watching this."  
  
X touched the stump of his buster-arm, which Zero had kissed, despair creeping into the fringes of his spirit. "Zero, please... I don't like this any more than you do, but if you go back to your old self, there's no real freedom for either of us. They'll hunt us, and I don't want to kill any more of my friends than I already have."  
  
"There's no world just for Reploids," Zero said softly to the broken throne, as if reciting from an old painful memory, and X was terrified that the former Maverick was no longer listening to him. "It's just an illusion."  
  
X moved between Zero and the throne in a breathless flash.  
  
"I said that to Iris ... damn, a long time ago." Zero paused and touched his forehead crystal, as if it pained him. His voice grew increasingly bitter and savage. "Those were the words of comfort I gave her while she was _dying at my hand_. X, I..."  
  
The blue Hunter could feel Zero tottering on the edge of something vast and wild, something that could not be undone, and he did the only thing he could think of to do, something as irrational as the rest of the night had been- he captured Zero's chin and kissed him deeply, with a sigh. Zero whimpered, gasping into X's mouth, the fight sliding away from his body.  
  
"Come back with me." X said, after the kiss dissolved into heated breaths, their foreheads still touching. "It isn't perfect and it's not what either of us really want, but we can still live together, fight together, stay close to each other ... and maybe we can make a world where Reploids can just... live."  
  
Frustration warred with need in Zero's eyes and he stroked his hand down X's back. "I... it's gonna be hard."  
  
"I know." X drew in a long breath. "I'm asking a lot."  
  
There was a long silence; Zero pressed his forehead into X's shoulder, breathing slowly. X swayed lightly, attempting to comfort the former Maverick with soothing motions, rubbing the back of his neck.  
  
"If I have to wear a leash, I guess it's not so bad if I know it's you holding the chain," Zero finally acquiesced with a tired smile. "Let's get the hell out of here."  
  
X had never loved Zero more than in that moment. He squeezed the other Hunter tightly, nodding, his eyes bright with exhausted relief as they began to limp away from the shattered throne room.  
  
But Zero couldn't resist one last whisper as they traveled, ducking his mouth close to X's ear to rumble, "I'm not promising to be good all the time, though. You better stay on your toes, X."  
  
X nibbled his lower lip, shooting Zero a horrified look, and Zero cackled; if not wholly maniacally, with more energy than he'd displayed a short time before. He always recovered quickly, as befitting his demonic core.  
  
A few moments later, the two Hunters spotted a gleam of pale sunlight, and moved toward it; shortly, they found themselves on a wide, shallow balcony. As their eyes blinked rapidly to adapt to the sudden glow a barrage of messages thundered into the two Maverick Hunters's senses. Frantic calls from Alia and Layer and Axl, "X, Zero, are you still there? Please respond!" "Commander Zero, acknowledge! What is your status?" "C'mon, TALK to us, guys!"  
  
"It's good to be loved, isn't it?" Zero glanced at his partner, then flashed a message back, "Keep your panties on, Axl, we're fine. Touched by the concern though."  
  
X nodded, chuckling, and flicked his comm open as well. "Mission completed, HQ. We're ready to come home."  
  



	2. Lies That Cover the World

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> As though everything was normal, and he wasn't about to betray Zero once again.

  
X was seeing Zero off to 'sleep' when the call came, an insistent, throbbing red-lined noise against the back of his eyes that only grew more demanding by the moment, It was only the ease of long, long experience that allowed X to suppress the irritation he felt and lean up to give Zero an illicit, eyes-dancing-about-warily kiss.  
  
As though everything was normal, and he wasn't about to betray Zero once again.  
  
Zero made a soft noise, a hint of complaint, and shot X a frustrated, longing smile before the recharger took control of his systems and his eyes glazed over. His head fell forward sharply, shoulders and hands going limp at his sides.  
  
X shuddered; he hated the reminder of what they really were, sometimes. He hated seeing Zero disappear into his own body, sealed away. He reached out and brushed trembling fingers over Zero's forehead crystal while the demand in his head blotted out more and more of his senses.  
  
 _Enough! I'm coming!_ , he thought angrily, and punched back an 'accept' signal in the desperate hope of making the summons go away. Turning from Zero, with a glance back, X shivered as a distant teleporter signal locked in, and ripped him from Hunter Tower.  
  
 _This is the last time we do this_ , he told himself as he melted into abstract data.  
  
 _I'm tired of living this lie._  


* * *

  
Years ago Connell Douglas had thrown him into the field with dire threats about the consequences of failure, and disobedience. He'd believed them at first, and struggled with the awkward part he'd been given. The difficult memories he had to integrate, full of pain and sadness, the expectations and demands of all the Reploids around him, the manic intensity of life as a Maverick Hunter- somehow, he'd survived all that.  
  
After a while it got easier... The constant pressure on all sides had turned his core to diamond, and as he found his own strength, he'd raised the strength of others by his example. When the 17th looked to him for leadership, when Zero looked to him for hope, he'd become the leader, he'd been the hope. He'd saved thousands of lives, defeated Sigma half a dozen times, expanded the scope of the Maverick Hunters, fought for them in battle and in the halls of power, because to do otherwise would have betrayed him as the fraud, the cheat, the imitation that he began as.  
  
Now, if anyone was X, he was, and this fraudulent double life was no longer something he could bear to live. This would be the last time he let the humans use him for anything. He'd find a way to break free. He had to, for Axl and Zero, for his own sake, for the sake of the Hunters.  
  
The humans were waiting for him when he arrived, materializing in the secret lab he now knew as intimately as he did every level of Hunter Tower. Instantly, X fell to his knees, lowered his head, (all pre-programmed; he couldn't even move now without a spoken keyword to release control of his limbs back to him, and he hated that) and he felt the dull thud of several massive cables forcing themselves into ports that snapped open along his neck and spine.  
  
A cold, sterile AI drilled down into his mind, forcing it open, indifferently yanking out his data, his recent experiences, all his thoughts- there wasn't anything he could hide.  
  
Or so they thought, but it wasn't that simple any more. He wasn't that simple any more.  
  
After the spiritless intelligence withdrew from his mind X let out a breath, waiting for the next phase to begin. Normally, what came next was a flood of "L energy"- a fresh infusion of the unique cybernetic DNA of his 'inspiration'. The L energy was what allowed him to interface with Light capsules, use the armor that was never meant for a body like his, crammed with newgen tech and stolen DNA.  
  
But as X hung on the cables, feeling raw and exposed, no reviving power came, no DNA data was uploaded to his copy mechanisms, and something began to feel very wrong.  
  
All the times he'd been summoned here before, a few humans had tended to his maintenance, asked him some curt questions, picked his mind clean and sent him back on his way to the Hunters as quickly as possible. Why weren't they doing it this time?  
  
Panic, a gut instinct flared: _I've got to get out of here. Right now._  
  
In desperation, X began to attack his own coding, hastily tried to cobble together a hack that would let him break his paralyzing programming...  
  
The sound of old wood clicking on the smooth tiles came to him, accompanied by low, rasping, mechanical breathing. With his gaze forced to the floor, X could only see the human's feet, the gilded end of a gnarled wooden cane. The man wore odd, open-toed sandals of timeworn leather, and his feet were thin things with shriveled toes. X could sense the lab turning silent, the humans ceasing their motion as this newcomer entered.  
  
Something gripped his head, hard bony fingers; his head was forced up, and he could see an ancient human. The man had to be two hundred years old, and looked it- stick-thin and frail as the dry white wood cane he clutched, sallow skin and lean boned, with a thin shock of frizzy white hair. But, there was something about his eyes that gave X a thrust of raw terror- his eyes were hard and keen, commanding blue, eerily familiar.  
  
Mechanical enhancements, subtle ones that X could sense, appeared to be sustaining the human unnaturally long beyond his years. X knew with every cell of his body that this human was something vile, something ancient and hideous, a dark demon from the past.  
  
Unable to speak, X simply stared, and the old man gave a dry cackle, speaking with a voice that held a tint of faded accent; it had probably been much thicker in his youth. "The Pantheons are performing as we anticipated. We can move ahead now. Download the package into this one, and let's see what happens."  
  
He was so close to breaking through but data immediately began to flash-flood his systems, and the first packet had barely settled when X began to scream furiously inside his captive mind, scream denial...  
  
The Maverick Virus- a newer, stronger and more terrible strain- he recognized its signature instantly. For just a breath he thought the humans were making a mistake, felt his confidence rise- _he was a new-gen, new-gens were immune_.  
  
But they weren't, not to this. He wasn't. The Virus was biting into his cells, it was really happening, and the old man was watching him with those drilling blue eyes,  
 _with Zero's eyes!_

 _Zero, help me!_  
He couldn't even scream; he couldn't move, couldn't do anything except feel his mind be torn out from under him. Everything, everything began to unravel into chaos: _blue eyes... nothing left... Zero..._  


* * *

  
Sharp, piercing blue eyes caught X's attention as he startled awake in his recharger; a certain red terror was leaning in close and grinning broadly. "Hey, blue boy. Up and at'em...!"  
  
"Zero?" X rubbed his eyes, feeling fuzzy around the edges, warbling distortion at the far sides of his vision that didn't go away.  
  
 _Was I dreaming? I must have been._  
  
His partner nodded. "We got a mission. Sounds like a good one, too. Some Maverick tore up one of Connell Douglas's factories- those're the guys you were doing consulting with, right? Anyway, the Fed's freaking out about it and so's Signas. C'mon, the trail's getting colder every second, let's move!" Zero gestured with his thumb over his shoulder, revved up and clearly ready for a fight.  
  
The mission profile was coming in as Zero spoke, and X jolted again at the images- the lab he knew so well gutted and laying torn open, the _blood_.  
  
 _I wasn't dreaming._ Inside X's mind, a high thin scream began to echo. _I wanted to end the lies, but not like this! Not like this_!  
  
X took a breath and stepped out of his recharger with a nod. As though everything were normal. He wanted to tell Zero everything, he wanted to scream for help; maybe the Hunters could still save him, maybe there was a way to change the course of things. He stared into Zero's blue eyes, searching for a sign, wondering if Zero knew and if he, too, was playing a part now.  
  
But the only words that came out of his mouth were simple words, calm words: X's words in X's voice, a little smile, _complete and total lies_.  
  
"Right. I'm ready."


	3. Problem

"It hurts, doesn't it, Zero?"

That _voice_. Zero had already clamped his eyes shut, closed his mouth, tried not to listen, tried to not even breathe. That voice, liquid-soft and low - there was no escaping that voice. Drifting around him, circling, confining, swooping in to brush an ear, raking at his heart over and over again. This can't be happening.

His arms were wrenched behind his back and hooked together at the elbows by a length of pipe X had twisted in around them like a bread tie. His shoulders were already overstressed and Zero knew if he struggled he'd only succeed in ripping his arms from their sockets.

"You said you wouldn't mind wearing a collar if I were the one holding the chain..." X was giggling. _Giggling_. As if the situation weren't already surreal. X's hands were wandering over Zero's throat, fluttering like bird feathers, and those flawless, drifting hands twisted some hidden bolt- twisting the very real metal collar Zero was wearing then so tightly closed it blocked the flow of vital coolants through his neck.

So tight. Zero gasped; he couldn't help it, and X made a soft sound in echo as if he shared the pain, or it hurt him to inflict that pain somehow.

"So painful, and so sad... All that we've endured... But it'll be over soon, Zero." X whispered, skin sliding over skin as he stroked Zero's jaw with the pad of his thumb. X's touch was like dry ice, melting hot, burning cold, taking bits of Zero's skin with it. Infectious. It was everything Zero had ever craved, intimate and all-consuming but, like this, it felt hollow and a parody.

_The virus..._

"I'll take everyone's pain away," X was saying, in a tone so plaintive it sounded as if he were weeping while he spoke. "Humans and reploids... we're all equally enslaved by this sick world's will. Don't you see, we've never had any choices...but I've seen the way to Elysium. I'll lead us there, Zero...and you'll help me. We two, just us... We only have to suffer just a little longer."

Keeping his head lowered to avoid facing the cracks in X's eyes, Zero ground his teeth and struggled to regain focus. His interior dialogue was choked with beacons of critical system errors, subsystem after subsystem screaming as they were wrenched out of his control. Everyone's worst fear was rising up in front of him, and he couldn't react at all except to stare, confused and shattered, mindless as a mechaniloid.

He hadn't seen it coming- no one had. X was supposed to be perfect, supposed to be sacrosanct, supposed to be immune...

But X was Maverick now, and everyone in the area who'd tried to contain him had already died. Zero's own body was faring no better. This Virus was laying him bare, a spreading red tide rising toward his aching, vivisected heart. X caught his lips in a brutal kiss, and Zero moaned. Blood and some subtler form of darkness seared down his cheeks, sharp lines of heat rushing toward the back of his throat, another surge of the Virus.

X tasted so...

Zero's eyes snapped open.

_No. You're **not X**. I won't let you smother me. You're just another pathetic Maverick... and you're **nothing** compared to me._

It was just that swift, the change. The instant Zero's will turned his body turned with it, and where weakness and disorientation had a moment earlier bogged down all his systems, in the next he was above it- so far above it that it was nearly an out of body experience. He was high above with the gods, gazing down, and the pathetic clinging of the Virus just made him laugh. Zero's cells flashed, spun, and twisted around, sucking down the Virus like so much energen- it was a physical rush as the Virus became power, and Zero bared his teeth like a mad dog.

"You want to see me turned, is that it?" Zero taunted, as the ghoul of X drew back in a sudden startle. The movements were uncanny, perfect to the smallest detail. _So good you fooled me; I wonder who you really are?_   "All you idiots keep trying to do this, and none of you understand...I'll grant your wish, then. I'll show you how a _real_ Maverick uses his power!"

Straining his nonessential arm for a moment, Zero burst free of his constraint - by sacrificing said arm, as it tore away from his shoulder in a spray of orange coolant and metal fragments - and flung himself at his enemy in a flutter of blood and whirling blond hair. Zero's hand shot to X's throat before he could get a charged shot off, slamming the gasping Maverick down hard on the ground, once, twice and finally a third time before his fingers began to glow. "Sigma, or whatever the hell you are... listen up. The real X would kill himself rather than hurt the ones he cares about. And as long as you don't understand why, that's why you'll lose this game, OVER AND OVER AGAIN!"

It was entirely satisfying to feel the Maverick's head bursting apart beneath his fist. Zero's glowing fingers made short work of the brain casing and clenched savagely around the slippery box he felt deep inside the pseudoelastic protective brain matter- the Maverick's electronic cerebellum, housing its control chip and memories.

_But he said things only X and I knew about._

Zero grimaced, wrenching the control box free. It sat in his hand a heavy clump of black, sparking metal and dangling wire, and he frowned, recognizing its general design. Beneath him, the body shivered and briefly contorted, returning to what Zero interpreted as a 'blank' schematic. The sight gave him chills.

_A nextgen Reploid. That means someone got hold of X long enough to copy his DNA fully. How long has this bastard been standing in his place? And nextgens aren't supposed to be able to be disturbed by the Virus either- so just what the hell is going on?_

_We've fought on missions together. He's even been repaired, too, but nobody ever looks at our schematics too closely any more, do they? Because we can't be properly analyzed anyway..._

_Was this the one who told me that he..._ Zero rose suddenly, his face flushed with rage.

 _That X... **fuck** , it wasn't even **real**_ **.** "Somebody _dies_ ," he snarled, and, only barely managing to keep from crushing the captured control box in his fury, activated his comm and tuned to the emergency gold channel.

 _If X was copied that fully, is he even still alive? Is this perverted version in my hand all that's left of him?_ Zero's throat seemed to close, and even though the comm beeped active, he found it difficult to speak. He forced the words out. 

"Signas, this is Zero. We have a problem."


	4. Hot

_This won't be fun_ , Zero reflected grimly, clutching the empty shoulder where he'd torn his own arm off to escape a Maverick trap. His head was spinning, and he swore he could feel the variant Virus the Maverick had assaulted him with crawling all over his armor. He shifted his internal radio over to the emergency Hunter Gold channel- direct access to Signas, ultra-secure, and only to be used in the most dire of emergencies.

"Signas? This is Zero. We have a problem."

The Commander of the Maverick Hunters sounded startled, but only for a moment- then cool professionalism quickly overtook his tone. Zero could almost see the young commander drawing himself straighter, wherever he was...

_I receive you, Zero. Can you explain?"_

Zero glanced down at the shattered body of the nextgen Reploid sprawled at his feet, head an unrecognizable mass of organic tissue and shattered metal plates. It spasmed, and for a moment, its blank white armor shifted into familiar blues. "In person." Zero paused, wincing. "I'm coming in so hot my armor's smoking... and I'm coming back alone."

"Hot" was the Hunter codeword for 'infected'.

There was a painful pause; Zero heard Signas take in a shuddering breath. X and Zero had gone out together... _"Understood, Zero."_  Through their Gold channel link, Zero could sense Signas' attention splitting, issuing a stream of orders rapidly to other Hunter personnel; a moment later, Layer whispered, _"Bringing you home, Commander Zero... Everything's ready for you."_

The red Hunter's fingers clenched firmly around the Maverick's black box.

_I'll find you, X. I will. I swear it._

He felt himself unraveling, and closed his eyes.

_It just might take me a little longer than I want._

* * *

He knew it was coming, knew what he'd see, but... it didn't stop the instinctive pulse of fear from snapping through Zero's chest when he materialized in the center of a ring of heavily armored drones pointing .75 caliber armor-piercing rifles directly at his head. He grimaced; _If I really was a Maverick all this'd be blown away already_ , and forced himself to look beyond them. Signas was standing at stiff attention at the back of the entry bay, and their eyes locked over the shoulders of the guardian drones. Concern flashed over the black Reploid's face at the sight of Zero's blood-splashed armor, twisted metal collar and missing arm- but there was steel behind the worry, guarded wariness.

The rest of the bay, normally a hive of Hunters, navis and support units drifting in and out, was utterly deserted- silent. And Zero was getting lock-signals from the hidden weapons arrays in the ceiling; he did his best to ignore them and continued to look directly at the Maverick Hunter General. "We're compromised," Zero warned him without preamble, "All the way to the core. Codes, channels, security IDs... can't trust any of it. The guy I went out with wasn't X; it was a newgen copy. An newgen copy that turned Maverick."

Signas closed his eyes; Zero grimly nodded- they were both thinking about Axl. _No system is secure when the bad guys are actively trying to mutate the Virus all the time._

"The Maverick..." Zero refused to call it X, "turned on me and I retired him, but not before he... I brought back the control chips; they'll verify what I'm saying is true." Very carefully, Zero turned his wrist, just enough so that his commander could see what he was carrying without alarming the guardians into prematurely ventilating him. Signas nodded.

"They couldn't have made such a convincing copy without the original... We don't know how deep this goes," Zero whispered, a surge of sudden pain lancing his shoulder, making him jerk. His body had limits- and he'd been pushing them ever since escaping the Maverick's hold. Only the empty energy of the Virus roaring in his blood kept shock at bay and held him on his feet now. He gasped dizzily, starting to wobble; his eyes widened, and he refocused on Signas in a frantic last effort, "Don't know how many of us are doubles... had to tell you in person... Check my unit, X's unit, hell, everyone... that thing was X perfectly until it turned... you have to find him..."

 _X._  Zero's legs buckled; the floor tilted and he heard his own groan. One of the drones caught him under his good arm, a hard and solid grip hoisting him back up. His hair spilled forward around his neck, and his head felt so heavy. _X!_ "...get Weil, he..."

He heard Signas issue a command, but couldn't make it out clearly.

Something was moving his body...

* * *

When strength returned, Zero found a grease-smeared human, young and bony, scowling at him. A finger waggled in his face, backed by accusing grey eyes. "What the hell did you do to yourself this time, Zero? Geez, what do I have to do to keep you in one piece?" He waved the remnants of the twisted metal collar- cut off Zero's throat with a blowtorch- and tossed it on the floor, "And I don't even want to know whose idea of a sick joke this was. Mavericks getting kinky now?"

"Weil." Zero favored the young man with a weary, self-effacing grin. Jonathan Weil had joined in with the Hunters after the 11th uprising, and had rapidly shown his talents in repair and maintenance - particularly forming a bond with the complicated red Hunter. It was widely acknowledged that nobody else seemed to have the knack of handling Zero's mysterious architecture- and Weil not only maintained Zero but improved him, constantly materializing clever tricks to keep Zero's ancient body running on par with those of the younger reploids - and X.

Weil'd quickly become Zero's favorite human, Zero was Weil's favorite project, and as the red Hunter was currently dripping with Virus activity, only humans and mindless drones could approach his body safely to initiate repairs anyway... He hated the delay, but since he had no choice in the matter Zero allowed himself to relax on the worktable, even letting his eyes close, knowing he was in good hands.

"You know how it is, they like it rough." Sure, he could joke about it- he could joke about _anything_ \- but a tiny tremblor moved down his back. _Hold on a little longer, X._

" _You_ like it rough. You do this on purpose to spite me, that's what it is," Weil persisted, giving Zero's chestplate a hearty thump; it popped slightly up off its usually invisible seam, and Weil folded it back on its hinge to peer into the bared substructure of tangled cables and servomotors within. Brown smoke curled out from under the plate, making the human cough, and Zero spasmed on the table as something crackled and sparked. Weil leaned in quickly. "Dammit! Brought you up too soon." His hand shot under Zero's neck and his fingers speared into tiny depressions concealed at the base of the Hunter's skull; Zero gasped, and his eyes went blank...

* * *

_He was standing in the desert, shading his eyes from the broiling orange light of the sun- it seemed too large and too hot, and dust was in his mouth. Some thin sickly bird gave a rude cry, circling slowly overhead, and a figure came to the edge of the cliff._

_Zero's camera-lens pupils narrowed; the shape was familiar but the sun was behind it, searing and terrible to behold. The figure raised its arm, and a flare of reflected blue glow lashed at Zero's eyes._

_X! Zero felt a surge of relief and tried to move toward him, but something prevented him before he could take a step; his foot brushed something on the ground, and the light kept him from seeing X's face._

_"Maverick," that voice accused; cold and impersonal, this X's word lacked even the sadistic piety of the newgen copy still burning in Zero's memories. X raised his arm, gathering power to him in white needles. Zero suddenly realized X's entire face was missing- beneath the brow of his helmet, where his kind green eyes should have been, there was just a blank plate, set with a large glowing red stone. "All Mavericks must be destroyed."_

_Zero became abruptly aware that the canyon was full of bodies- Reploid bodies. He was standing in the middle of a mass grave; tortured faces stared unseeing up at him amidst heaps of lifeless and broken parts. As he raised his head toward the cliff another swirl of dust struck his face, and the copy of X on the hill still kept its gleaming Buster aimed directly at him._

_And then another X arrived. And another. And another. And another. Each took aim and locked on; Zero crouched, hissing, whipping his gaze from side to side, feeling trapped as he stared into their soulless red crystal eyes. "Where is X?" he cried, fists raising. "Where is he? What have you done to him? TELL ME!"_

_The only answer he received was a hail of charged Buster shots that swiftly tore him apart. As he came crashing down into the canyon, the last sight he saw was X's pale face staring back at him unseeing; half his head was missing, and his mouth was frozen in a silent cry of pain and grief..._

* * *

"GHH!" Zero jerked and sat upright, dislodging several diagnostic cables from his helmet and spine; Weil leapt back with a yelp.

"Zero!"

The Hunter moaned and put his head in his hands, not even noticing that he had both his arms again. "... shit."

Weil was at his side immediately, placing hands on his shoulders, familiar hands, trying to urge him to lie back down. "You had a nightmare."

"Yeah." Zero let his hands fall, and just then realized. He tested his replacement hand, twisted his wrist a few times, stretched his arm out- it felt perfectly good, as if it'd been there all along. Weil was good.

"What did you see?" There was a strange urgency to the human's flinty eyes- a dark curiousity. "Was it the old man again?" Zero met those eyes and for a moment didn't know how to respond; as Weil pushed lightly on his forehead, the Hunter sighed, gave in and laid back down.

"No, it was..." He tipped his head back. "I saw X, but... something was wrong with him. There were all these copies without faces, like they were mass produced, and they were shooting at me. I was in a dry canyon full of Reploid bodies, a... a grave. When I fell I saw..." Zero shuddered, and refused to continue, his jaw clenching.

"Given what you experienced, it's no wonder you're having nightmares," Weil said softly. "You've always been afraid of the mechanical side of yourself, and of X. It's natural that your worries would rise up- You went out with X and came back alone, didn't you? That means you had to put him down... I'm sorry, Zero, it's my fault. I put you into standby mode too fast, and it left you in a state where you could still process some data."

"That wasn't X," Zero rasped. "It was just a cheap copy... Weil, what's happening outside? Did they bring in the rest of that Reploid?"

"Yes. We've dismantled most of it and scanned the black box that you brought in. Only myself, Douglas and Lifesavor have worked on it- no one else in the upper ranks knows what happened. We're trying not to let anyone catch on that we know we've been infiltrated."

Zero licked his lips. "Were you able to find out anything from its memory about what happened to X? How long it's been operating?"

"Zero..." The human seemed to mull his words carefully. "The memory chains were blank. It was a newgen Reploid, and its copy functions were enhanced pretty heavily, but... we just couldn't get anything useful out of it. It's possible that it was programmed to destroy its own memories before you could get to the chip."

"Or that I'm lying through my teeth and Maverick as hell," Zero grimaced. Disappointment warred with relief. Nothing useful meant no leads to point the way to X. But if they had seen the Maverick kissing him, or heard the words that Zero had spoken in what he'd thought was secrecy to X... _Sure, nothing establishes credibility faster than making out with Mavericks and happily labeling yourself one... that right there would be enough to justify blowing my brains out._

"Nobody believes that, Zero. We just couldn't get anything useful out of the data- a few bits and pieces of sensory information. The body was a little better; it definitely showed signs of internal stress in the copying mechanisms, as if it'd been running at extremely high power for a long time. And it very definitely carried the same strain of the Virus you came back with- a strain that hadn't been present in your previous scans before you left the base." Weil picked some tools up off the side of the table and replaced them in a box under the workstation.

Zero rubbed his eyes, sitting up and drawing his legs close to his chest. "So... now what? We know X is missing, but we don't have a clue where or who took him, and for all I know, I'm a double too, programmed to believe I'm the real thing..." He sought Weil's eyes. "Would you be able to tell if I wasn't actually me?"

Weil chortled, brushing fingers through his close black hair. "I better be able to! For one thing, you don't contain any copy mechanisms. Even if a clever copy of you came in here asking for repairs, I would see that and know it wasn't you. It might fool one of your friends, but not me. For another... DNA manipulation in the newgens is only skin deep, Zero. Because every Reploid is based in large on X, the interior layout between him and them doesn't vary that much, so it'd be easy to miss things when you're just opening up a couple of panels to fix this or that. But your body... your design is unique in so many ways. You're nothing like X inside. I'd like to meet the person that could make a copy of you convincing enough to get by me."

"So would I," the Hunter murmured. Then he paused, feeling jolted by a sudden spark of inspiration. _We don't just build ourselves... There might be some anomalies in a factory output somewhere to make a copy of that quality._  A flash of his dream returned: a hundred dead-faced X-drones, all viciously powerful, staring down the barrels of their guns at him...

"Well, am I officially judged clean enough to return to the world of the living, Weil?"

"Itching to act... that's the Zero I know." But the human grinned widely. "I've isolated and contained the new Virus strain for study and you seem to be so used to that arm already you haven't even noticed it was there. Oh, but incidentally, while we're discussing the Virus... let me tell you something that we did get out of your playmate's body. Come here and take a look at this."

He crossed the room to a terminal and sat down, activating the touchscreen with an oily finger. The screen flickered to life, displaying a bewildering number of subscreens and scrolling images. Zero slid off the table and joined his friend, peering over the back of the chair and rolling his new arm gently around in its shoulder joint.

"We learned a great deal about how the newgen DNA responds to Viral activity. The cells they were using contained data with huge backdoor vulnerabilities to Sigma from the start, so it'd be easy enough to activate the Sigma power within those cells to begin producing a new strain of Maverick Virus. Hah, a teenage scriptkiddie could hack that system. It's clear the intent of the system's design was simply to negate the impact of the Virus on the mind- to create a sort of immunization- but even though their minds are highly stable under stress and unresponsive to penetration of that sort, it doesn't matter if they're still pumping out the Virus with every touch and movement."

Zero whistled. "So their bodies, which contain the DNA of Sigma, can be cued to start reproducing a Virus and pass it around, even if the Virus can't get into their heads."

"Yes, because they don't do anything with the Virus, as you do. Your body physically alters the virus and, given enough time, absorbs it completely into your cells. You remake yourself every time you're infected. But theirs simply holds it still, like water in a glass. In a sense there's a greater danger of an outbreak from newgens because if they don't even realize they're infected, they could spread it rapidly to older Reploids without intending to. It could be argued that the strain you picked up was engineered for that very purpose- to infect you and through you reach the older generations of Reploids."

"Backwards compatibility from hell. Nice." Zero make a rude sound. "But, the copy I fought was pretty much a Maverick in the traditional sense- babbling away about making a new world from the retirement of humans and reploids, all that crap. And anyone who seriously wants to see me infected knows by now that I negate new strains, so what's the point of going to all that effort?"

Weil turned and glanced up at Zero. "Maybe your new enemies don't know all of your capacity. And there is such a thing as a crazy body _and_ a crazy mind."

That gave Zero pause. "Especially if X was copied imperfectly, in hostile conditions."

"Precisely."

"Oh, this just gets better and better." Zero touched his brow, feeling his internal temperature beginning to rise. "Maverick copies of X's mind sealed up in bodies independently pumping out a hostile new strain of backward-compatible Virus. Got any more good news for me? I suppose you'll tell me that there's a whole swarm of them heading right here, next..."

It was at that moment that the emergency lighting snapped on, red sirens flaring from the ceiling. WARNING! WARNING! The human and the Reploid stared at each other for a moment in the red gloom, Weil paling, and Zero threw his hands to heaven.

"SHIT, I DIDN'T MEAN IT!"


	5. The Way to Elysium

The emergency beacons, red and shrill, only lasted a few moments- Zero and Weil had barely begun to move when the quarantine lab (and by association the rest of Maverick Hunter Headquarters) went pitch black to the sound of something large and heavy exploding many levels below their feet. Zero's backlit helmet and breastplate jewels became the only sources of light in the room, and by their ambient glow, Weil broke away from the desk, hurried toward the door and pressed his thin hands on it.

"That would be the generator," Zero grimaced. "They've cut the power." He tried to key into his radio, but the layers of confused shouting and audible weapons fire were quickly replaced with a blank white static that nearly hypnotized him. He had to shut down his radio quickly before it drew his mind into the void. "And they're jamming us. Somebody was a good little student at Fuck the Hunters Up U."

"And with the power out, we're not getting out of this lab. I had it in lockdown mode." Weil glanced back at Zero, eyes wide. It was small comfort that the quarantine labs were designed to be nearly impermeable- a huge box of titanium and concrete expressly designed to contain the rabid force of a full-tilt psychotic Reploid. No teleporting in or out, able to withstand special weapons; they were probably in the least danger of anyone in the building, an irony that wasn't lost on the Maverick Hunter.

"Oh yeah, you humans need that air stuff, don't you?" Zero drawled, trying to sound flippant while his core began to twist itself into incrementally smaller, tighter shapes. He stepped forward, automatically lifting a hand to where his Z-Saber hilt should have been and grimaced when his fingers found empty space. Oh, for the love of... He skewered Weil with his gaze. "Tell me you left my Buster online."

The young mechanic gave a thin, airless laugh. "Rules and regs... I was going to fix it once you had a little more rest. I can have it working again in five minutes if you can get me better light to see by."

Zero found inspiration; he put his hand to one of his breastplate jewels and yanked the green glass away, baring a bright white light beneath that quickly illuminated the gloom. The red Hunter shot Weil a sarcastic grin. "Now I know why they call it flashing."

"Sure, make your little jokes..." Weil grabbed Zero's arm and dragged it- and the Hunter- toward a counter, hastily gathering up his tools. He slammed Zero's wrist down flat, pried open a panel, and began frantic work. Zero didn't complain, just watched closely, his mouth a tight line.

Below them, the sounds of gunfire were beginning to rise.

* * *

 _This sucks worse than the worst thing that's ever sucked, ever_ , Axl thought as he grimly held his position at the shattered windowframe on the 14th floor and continued to fire rapid bursts at the encroaching blue drones climbing up the surface of the building. Not killing X. Not killing X. Not killing X, he told himself over and over as his shots blew off arms, legs, shoulder plates, part of a head, got one of the drones right in the forehead jewel with a shatter of ruby glass and coolant. They moved like spiders, cold and inhuman, skittering so fast up the walls- Axl'd never, ever seen a Maverick, hell, not even animal-type Reploids that could move like that.

The static roaring in his head was almost overwhelming, but the S-class Hunter welcomed the white noise- it was better than hearing the panicked babble and shrieking that had flooded all the channels moments earlier. Of course, now the Hunters were desperately trying to form up ranks with no central guidance and no navis, and half of them didn't even know how to fight without navis and Zero was probably stuck trying to claw his way out of quarantine and and _it looks so much like X, not killing X, not killing X..._

Heavy footsteps roared up behind him, two large Hunters grunting as they dragged an ancient-but-still-potent rotary machinegun through what had been an administrative office doorway; someone shouted, "Fall back! Let us handle it!"

Axl, dodging low-charge Buster shots from one of the clones that'd managed to get a lock on him, spun and grinned- until the Hunters (he didn't recognize them) spun the minigun on its stand and started laying waste to the room, mowing down the other Hunters at the windows. Riddled and bursting apart, most of the surprised Hunters were blown out of the windows in pieces by the force of the slugs tearing into them.

 _What the hell what the HELL!_ Axl threw himself into a diving forward roll, his newgen speed and reflexes saving his life by a breath; one of the slugs clipped the back of his boot, tearing off a jagged flechette of blue armor. The swung around to follow him and he dove and rolled again, still just that fraction faster, then rose up with burning eyes and shot the two 'Hunters' point blank in the face. They fell twitching, and reverted to blank white shells.

He gasped hoarsely, and swung himself behind the controls to the rotary machinegun, snatching the grips so hard he nearly broke them. The clones were coming through the windows; numb with fear and rage, Axl swung the barrel around again and, howling, opened fire on anything that moved.

_Zero, I need you !_

* * *

Weil shoved Zero's buster arm panel closed and Zero startled; he'd thought he'd felt a Tag Assist call connecting, just for a moment, a fragment of data slipping through the thick walls. He couldn't identify the broken tag, and he just hoped it wasn't someone's last transmission. That better not have been you, Axl. I can't handle finding you dead right now... "Okay! Get behind me!"

As the human scrambled out of the way, Zero drew in a breath and stared intensely at the door. His power built rapidly, dancing wisps of light radiating about his frame in lethal orange splendor, even lifting his hair and sending it lashing wildly around his shoulders. But Weil's eyes were fixed on the red Hunter's face, watching the play of emotions; Zero's intense focus became, for only an instant, a kind of terrible bliss- a delight in the promise of vengeance to come as the stored energy reached its peak.

Weil found he was holding his breath.

Then Zero gave a cry, and unleashed his charged blast at the door; it dented, but didn't burst, and Zero bared his teeth and hissed. Touching his wrist he made a slight adjustment to open the lens of his buster arm, readjusted his stance, and began to draw power once more.

It took another eight shots before the door began to look weakened enough for Zero to begin attacking it directly; he just charged and crashed into it, dashing, shoulder-rushing, kicking, until it finally gave and buckled down into the hallway, off its hinge and smoking.

"YES!" Zero roared through the doorway on his dash jets, hair fluttering. "Sorry I can't stay- do what you can, Weil!"

"Don't worry about me! Help your friends!" Weil yelled back, as the light that was Zero spun away down the dark wall. Softer, he murmured, "Put the fear of God into them."

* * *

This floor was weirdly quiet, and while Zero hurried through the darkened halls he ached for the comfortable feel of the Saber in his hand. It had become such an integral part of all his combat techniques he felt vulnerable without it. Instinct told him to head for the windows, but as he muscled his way through blackened offices, weaving past desks (and the occasional frightened human staffer he sensed hiding away here and there but had no time to tend to) his brain was whirling.

_Okay, I'm a bunch of psychotic copies of X and I'm attacking Hunter HQ. What am I after? It can't be data, particularly- having been inside for a while with that stinking copy, they'll know almost anything of strategic value we could have tried to hide. They've already taken out the generator and scrambled the radios so we Hunters can't coordinate. That means they're after creating terror, and counting on their looks to freeze up Hunters psychologically. Not to mention that anyone they fight is going to go stark raving Maverick if they touch... But mass confusion and headfucking isn't X's style, his specialty is infiltration... better at sniping than a full out attack, his up-close defense patterns always did suck..._

_Which means this is a diversion. The whole thing. Ten zenny says we've got a small group or even a single fighter sliding in behind us, quietly cherry picking off whoever he wants on the way to his objective while we focus all our attention on the big bad horde of zombies outside._

_They could be after replacing or capturing Signas, that wouldn't surprise me- they could also just be after killing as many of us as possible and spreading the disease..._

Zero shoved himself through another doorway, reaching this floor's outfacing offices; the skyline was a livid red against the dark of night, and parts of the city were visibly aflame in the distance. The red Hunter ran to the window, pressed his brow to it and peered down at the exchange of plasma blasts and conventional fire taking place a few floors below. My kingdom for some boiling oil, he thought bitterly, still keening for his Saber.

He took a deep breath, steadying himself, once more gathering his power, then drove his fist through the window and flung himself out into the night sky.

And for one breathless, perfect moment he was free.

Air roared past his armor, nearly ripping his hair out of the back of his head as he began to fall. He air-dashed into a concrete trench along the side of the building, left his heel thrusters firing as he leaned back and all but surfed his way down the side of the building, plummetting toward the cluster of drones crowded on each other below. He let out a feral roar, gripped his buster arm and started laying down a spray of charged and half-charged shots into the X-bodies.

He came slamming down on the head and shoulders of one of the X-forms and kicked off it, flinging himself back and up into the updrafting wind while the drone went whirling. Zero twisted in mid air, rolling backward and planting his feet on the building for just an instant, long enough to blow away another drone with a perfect shot to the throat and leap forward again.

_I'm gonna get infected all over again, but FUCK if this isn't worth it._

* * *

All Axl saw from behind the chaingun was a sudden explosion and something red and burning dropping like a comet from the sky... he couldn't believe it, and, forgetting himself, ran to stick his head out of the window. Was that - _oh, yes, ZERO!_ Twisting and twirling in the sky with a half-dozen X-drones like there wasn't even such a thing as gravity, the red Hunter was utterly laying waste to the swarm. Even with the shock and horror still crawling down Axl's spine, the S-class Hunter couldn't help but look on and grin - and then he started looking for a way to get into the mix. _Come on, come on, a-ha!_ He hopped into the window frame, then leapt up, planting his foot on a falling drone, training his guns on it and firing two explosive rounds into the body. The explosion hurled him upward, toward his idol. "ZERO!"

The red Hunter was deep in the throes of bloodlust and at first the other Hunter's voice didn't reach - but when he finally registered Axl's presence, his eyes widened. _The virus!_ "Axl, get the FUCK out of here!" Zero's rhythm shattered, and one of the drones caught him full in the face with a charged Buster arm, cracking part of his helmet; another twined itself around Zero, catching him by the throat and wrenching his arm back, and he was abruptly plummeting with it, snarled up and out of control. He strained around the drone's hold to shout to the other Hunter, "If they touch you, they'll infect you! They're newgens like you...ghh!"

"Zero!" Axl snarled and twisted, feeling something move too close behind him; he brought his right gun up and opened fire, blowing a drone's head off its neck, circulatory fluids splashing his neck. "ZERO!" Using the drone as a kickboard he whirled down after the red Hunter, thrusting out his left arm and firing a shot that missed Zero's shoulder by a hair and burst inside the Maverick drone entangling Zero's armor. The explosion at his back flung Zero forward- and Axl was there and caught him up, wrapping an arm around his waist. "Hang on."

Axl shifted his guns into pulse mode and fired in the air, sending them toward a third-floor window, then twisted and shot out the glass seconds before they crashed into it. Zero and Axl tumbled through, landing in an ungainly skid that carried them several feet over the floor.

In the ruined room both Hunters lay still for a moment, panting. Axl rose first, and scurried over to push at Zero, nudging his shoulder. "Aw man, Zero, are you okay?"

His answer came in the form of a solid slap at the back of his helmet and a loud groan from the older Hunter. "Fuckwit, I _told_ you not to touch!" Zero frowned, though his voice lacked heat. "I'm infected too. Those things are spewing a mutant form of the Virus that's cued to make oldtimers like me go nuts. It won't make you crazy, but your body'll start spreading it to anyone around you now."

Axl stared at his mentor, feeling his servos grinding in his chest. " _X is missing and we're both infected_?!"

"That's about the size of it." Zero grunted as he stood, feeling air lashing into his skin; something'd been exposed in his back panel when the Maverick exploded, but that wasn't Axl's fault. "We can't do anything about it now, so just stick with me and hope we don't have to fight our way past any of our friends."

Sheepishly, Axl nodded, and checked his energy levels. He still seemed okay to fight for a while. "Wait, uh... where are we going?"

Zero flashed Axl a tight, angry smile. "That song and dance routine out there was just a big flashy distraction. If you were a crazy, pissed off version of X and you wanted to really hurt us Hunters, where would you be heading right now?"

Axl tilted his head, mouth forming a thin line. "Well, I'd be trying to get... us. The three of us are the best, right? The Hunters almost imploded when X went on hiatus for a while, offing you would be like bragging rights for a year and kill just about any morale we had left, and I'm the cocky newgen whose death makes everybody else suffer because I'm so young and perfect and stuff... God. Zero, are you seriously saying that we have to... that we're gonna have to fight X tonight?"

Zero's face was carefully blank; it only threw the sudden surge of grief in his eyes into sharper relief. "He made me promise...a long time ago... if he ever went Maverick, he wanted me to destroy him. Whoever's behind this, they'll have to make him appear, to really hurt us, in whatever form he's been twisted into now. I can't imagine that he'd let himself be taken that easily, but if he has been, and we can't find a way to free him..."

"I-I couldn't. It's _X_ ,  Zero," Axl whispered.

"I don't know for sure. Maybe we'll get lucky and the one behind this will show himself some other way, leaving X for later. But it's gonna happen, Axl, and we have to be ready for that." Zero turned and stared into a shadow in the corner. His eyes suddenly narrowed. "Isn't that right...?"

The Reploid seemed to form out of the darkness, though the faintest hint of a strange ozone warmed the air in his wake. The armor he wore was unfamiliar but not pointedly combative; lean plates of blue and white that gave him a sleeker, even more compactly human look than ever before. Mega Man X gazed at his friends, but his green eyes were backlit with a cunning glow. Gone was the softness, the humility; this X was steel through and through. "Can't fool you, can I, Zero?"

"Not any more," Zero whispered, frozen. Despite his brash words, he wasn't ready- he was never ready to fight X. And power called to power; there was a sinister resonance between him and X that made him shiver anew. He'd already been badly in love with X before, the softer X. By his side, Axl gaped, and fared no better; he stared openly at X's casual magnificence, wide-eyed.

"This doesn't have to be a battle," X said evenly. "I'm not here to hurt either of you, but I will defend myself if you attack." He paused to gather his thoughts. "Zero, I've been thinking a long time. We never had any choices- you and I definitely, but all Reploids, and even the poor humans. We've all tried so hard to be something other than what we were made to be, tried to be real, and the world just laughs at us for trying. I tried to be something other than a machine that brings death... but that's what I am. The world that tells me you and I have to hide ourselves because of the fear of others is a world I won't support any more. The world that tells me that Reploids are less than equal is a world I can't support. The world that brings nothing but suffering to everything on its surface, built on death and pain... I can't support. The only way to acheive Elysium for all of us is to start over. Burn ourselves alive and be reborn... I know you know what I mean, Zero..."

_Don't say what you're going to say. Don't say it, X._

"This is my choice. I'm doing this of my own free will. If that makes me a Maverick, so be it. It's a word humans use to control us, and a word they use to hide from themselves. Zero, even our words are their words- words like love, grief, regret, compassion, destruction... we don't even have our own language, our own way to define ourselves. We only imitate what they tell us, poorly..."

Zero gritted his teeth and twisted his head away; he felt his blood rushing to his head, and the urge to lash out at something, anything, reared up and snarled under his skin. Axl made a soft choking noise.

"So..." Zero rasped, "That's it. You're throwing your whole life, everything you've acheived away in some hope of being able to escape fate..." Zero almost laughed; stumbled back a step and clutched at his head. "What a fucking joke... _what a fucking joke, X_! Do you know how hard I've fought to become the person I am? PERSON! Not a Reploid, not an android, not some murdering Maverick, not a human... myself, me, ZERO! I fought so hard, and now you're telling me that my struggles don't have any meaning? That I should just throw it all away? And what, turn back into that monster? That's my true self, X- a murderer soaked in blood! And I promised myself - _and you_ \- that I would never stop fighting being that thing! You've brought me back from it so many times... and now you want to dump this on us?" The red Hunter began to shake.

And Axl lifted his head, green eyes so like X's, burning. "Hey, what about us over here! The newgens you're using as pawns to _kill us with_ to make this so-called perfect world of yours, huh? What about their hopes? We didn't ask to be made and sucked into this! I watched a bunch of good guys get blown away tonight just doing their jobs, tryin' to defend everybody from those clone things of yours! Is that the way paradise gets built? _On corpses_?!"

X touched his brow. "I know that this is hard to understand. I struggled with it for a long time. You don't know..."

"Bullshit it's hard to understand, you're taking the cowardly way out! Instead of making yourself better and fighting your worst impulses, you want to make everyone else conform to your impossible ideals. How's it feel to finally come out as a total hypocrite, X?"

"Hey, Zero... are we sure this is even the real X anyway?" Axl was grasping at straws, hurting; they both were. But Zero shook his head. "No, I'm sorry to say that our X, the one that cared about doing the right thing even when it meant some hurt- he's gone. We've just got this thing in his place now." He wished again, desperately, for the comfort of his saber in hand- though he knew he would have been too tempted to use it.

"My FRIENDS apparently can't tell the difference between me and a cheap copy made when the humans took me CAPTIVE! Do you know how long they had me, Zero? Do you know when they switched me out? No, because you never see past the end of your own sword! You want to know when it happened? During the 7th uprising... when I left the Maverick Hunters, I really wanted to leave for good! I wanted to work for human and Reploid peace, to bring us together... I really believed that then. But that wasn't good enough for the humans... they started by asking me to come help them with some questions about Reploid biology, and by the time I realized I was helping them create a generation of Reploids meant for use in human wars, it was too late- things had already gone too far, and then they got really dirty. I've been gone for years, Zero- screaming every night- and you never came! T _hey stole my voice, they stole my body, they stole my memories and my love and my LIFE and put them in that THING and YOU NEVER CAME_!"

Zero staggered backward, the words as tangible as any plasma blast. "...the... seventh uprising...?" He stumbled, crashing over the corner of a desk- and then he destroyed it, driving his buster arm straight through the pressed wood in a long howl of absolute betrayal and rage. He flung the fragments around madly, blind and screaming until he finally collapsed among the debris, and his blue eyes faded into cloudy blankness.

X's silent, close-lipped stare was damning.

And Axl's hands slowly clenched into fists. He was almost beyond the point where words could reach him. That someone could hurt X... really hurt him, wound him, wound X to the point where he turned Maverick, and nobody'd done anything...! He took a few steps forward, toward X. "I... X, I don't know how to... I know we're both sorry, but that doesn't even come close to cutting it... I know everybody else'd be really sorry too. .." He hung his head, brushing his hand angrily over his eyes. Newgens could cry, and Axl wept openly. "I... I want to make it up to you... please, you gotta tell me how, X! But I'm infected... we both are..."

The blue Maverick touched Axl's shoulder lightly, and he exhaled when he brushed his thumb along the dampness on Axl's tear-and-oil stained cheek. _Perfect._ "I know how to stop that Virus. But I don't know how to stop the humans... tonight was just a sample. The humans are planning to kill us. I know. I heard enough of their talk. I know what's coming. It'll be a massacre whether we call ourselves Mavericks or not. Those clones, things I never wanted to see, and that Virus, which I loathe, it's just the beginning."

Axl glanced away, smearing his fingers over his face. "What about Zero? You're, you're not still..."

X closed his eyes, letting out another low breath. "No, I'm not." He moved over, boots crunching over broken wood, and crouched down next to the crumpled Hunter, touched his face.

"I didn't know," Zero whimpered, eyes open, wide and unseeing. "I swear. I would have torn the world apart to find you."

"They knew that," X replied with a weary smile, pulling Zero up and holding the shivering red Hunter close, running his fingers through the long strands of Zero's hair. "That's why it was done that way. Let it go, Zero, I forgive you. It's in the past. But now...I need you by my side. I need you to follow me without question."

Zero buried his forehead in X's shoulder, shaking.


	6. Because We Have No Choice

X and Zero curled around each other, shaking and silent. Neither dared to move, and they hid their faces in each other's shoulders while Axl stared at them, anxious and confused.

"So, uh." Axl stumbled over his words and debris on the floor as he finally approached the spot where X sat silently cradling Zero. "I guess...We're Mavericks now, right? We decided? Because I can't just sit here knowing that humans did stuff to you and not... not want to do something about it... Huh. This is how wars start, isn't it? I've never been a Maverick before." The younger Reploid touched the scar below the fringe of his helmet, remembering.

_Zero... If I become a Maverick..._

Zero's breathing began to slow as he finally began to lift himself from the floor. He touched his lips to the curved plate of X's left shoulder, kissing it tenderly, savoring the ozone the blue Maverick's body emitted.

**As the warriors of old, X,**

He moved his hands carefully around X's lean grey waist. X shivered, just for a moment, and then his arms folded around Zero as well. "I missed you so much," the blue Maverick whispered. "I never stopped wishing I could see you."

_you have to take care of me..._

**We'll embrace...**

They were utterly still together, beyond any need of words; their cores resonated on a single frequency, in perfect unison, with vibrations that could be felt between their armors as a thunderous, consistent rhythm.

_Promise me, Zero._

Zero spoke in the gentlest voice, lifting his hand to cradle the back of X's helmet. "I'm sorry I wasn't there for you then. But I'm here for you now. Just like I promised."

**Because we have no choice.**

Zero, in one blinding motion, drilled his fist straight through X's titanium ribcage.

* * *

"No!" Axl's voice stretched thin as he screamed; he flung himself toward the older Hunters on air-dash, guns snapping into his hands from thin air, skidded by Zero, wrenched X away, and jerked back angrily with an arm around X and his right hand rising. In less than a second, Zero felt Axl's target-lock centering on his throat. X was beginning to choke on his own coolant, and the blue perfection of his armor was discolored violet all down his left side and hip. Green sparks flickered around the jagged edges of the wound, and flashed the length of his chest.

"How could you?" the new-gen shrieked, wild-eyed and pale with horror; he twisted his body around to shield X against Zero, and straightened his gun-arm into a solid bar. "I won't let anybody hurt X, not even you!"

Zero remained absolutely motionless; his hands were limp at his sides while the blood dripped slowly off his fingers. "It's like that, is it?" he whispered.

"Damn right it's like that!" Axl snarled, but grief was rising quickly in him beside the anger, and it twisted his voice into a terrified whimper. "Why did you do that?"

"Because I promised him I would," Zero answered, eyes shuttered, "Long before Reploids like you were ever born. I don't want to ever have to fulfill that promise." He lifted his head, indomitable will returning quickly into his blue eyes as he twisted away, showing his back to the new-gen Hunter. "You remember Giga City? Take him to the Lagrano Ruins. You'll be safe there for a while. The place's been deserted since that stupid Rebellion mess. There's some salvagable Reploid repair equipment there, and hell, you might even be able to scrounge up some Force Metal scraps while you're at it."

Blinking, Axl dropped his guard, his arm falling; Zero felt the target-lock fall off as well. "Huh?"

"I said GO!" Zero glared over his shoulder, hair lashing the air. "Go now before I have to do my _fucking duty_ and put you both down as Mavericks for real!"

X retched, and Axl saw the shudder pass down Zero's spine as X slumped over into emergency shutdown. Axl cursed and held his idol closer, adjusting his weight so that he could carry X more easily. "Zero... hey, wait! Come with us! Zero!"

But the red Hunter was already striding away, a thin trail of X's blood dotting his wake. "I never saw you tonight." X, Axl, I'm sorry about this. I love you both, but I have to deal with this my own way.

Axl lowered his head, wincing. "I... I understand." Sighing, the new-gen folded himself around X and fled in a rising needle of sharp yellow light.

 

* * *

Zero swept through the building like a hurricane. Two members of the 17th were found pinned down by enemy fire and were rescued; he joined a group covering the last operating teleporter pad to protect the retreat of nearly thirty wounded Hunters; drones were dispatched in tens, twenties, blown away like leaves by charged Buster shots and cooperative techniques with other Hunters. Floor by floor, room by room, victory after victory, Zero threw himself in the fire, burying his heart deeper with every drone he destroyed. Although there was no joy in it, the night was his.

A straggle of Hunters had fallen in beside him- his deadly legend drawing out others who felt safer in his presence- some A and B class, some junior Navis. There was still no word of Alia's senior Navi staff, Douglas, or Signas, and everyone was worried. The radios were still jammed, and though teleportation was possible, many were now too wounded or energy-drained to manage a jump.

Some three hours later, Zero'd finally been forced to stop- some of his entourage needed emergency treatment- and they'd all taken refuge in an auditorium near the core of the building. Everyone was running on fumes; the crowd had a manic edge, talking too loud, the terrified attempting to comfort the wounded, everyone moving in hard circles against their fear.

The other Hunters were giving Zero a wide berth- partially out of respect and partially because of the mass of burns, scratches and circulatory fluid-spills all over his armor; he was hot enough to be radioactive, the Virus writhed and scratched like a trapped spider in his mind, and his face had set into a blank and disconnected mask. He was leaning against a wall with his eyes closed, hating the inactivity but knowing it was not fair to leave the wounded unprotected, trying desperately, desperately not to think of X- and doing it anyway.

_"The only way to acheive Elysium for all of us is to start over. Burn ourselves alive and be reborn... I know you know what I mean, Zero..."_

_How did they break you, X? 30 years of testing, or more, you told me that. You were stable to the nth degree. How did they get around that? It would have taken supreme knowledge of Reploid systems - more, of our psychological matrixes. Only a handful of humans in the world I know of have that expertise and most of them are dead now or - in capsules..._

_Oh, fuck me, NO._

Zero spun around, screaming at the top of his artificial lungs, and slammed his fist directly through the wall, his arm sinking up to the elbow. Absolute silence blasted across the knot of younger Reploids and Hunters, and they stared in fear as Zero wrenched his arm from the wall, still cursing, and turned to glower. "WHAT."

Someone, a small girl with blue hair and a battle-damaged Junior Navi uniform, gingerly spoke up, flinching at the savage anger burning in the red terror's dark eyes. "Uhm.. is... everything all right, Commander Zero?" She gulped and gathered her courage to approaching him carefully; she swayed on her feet for a moment and then fished out a little silver drink-canister from a pocket, holding it out to him. "You look really tired and unhappy. It's been a pretty bad night, hasn't it. Maybe a little energy will help?"

 _Oh, hell. She's just a kid._ _Didn't even know they made Reploids that small._ His bad mood thawed slightly and he took the can with a silent, grateful nod; he tried to find a smile somewhere, but he could almost feel it coming out all wrong, more of a tired grimace. So he rumbled, "Thanks." and tried his best to sound kind and reassuring, like a proper Commander of the Maverick Hunters should.

 _Commander Zero. Dammit. X would have... he would have managed so much better... How am I supposed to do this without you, X?_ He forced himself from those thoughts and looked at the little Reploid girl again, watching her sway nervously on her feet. "I guess I just... am really missing my friends right now," he managed, cracking the tab on the energy drink and devouring it in a breathless gulp. He'd been lower on reserves than he thought; the energy felt like liquid light going down, and parts of his body that had gone numb hours before began to stir and report back in.

"Uhm." She linked her fingers behind her back and swayed lightly on her feet, "I'm Mosaic. I lost most of my class when the fighting started on the 7th floor. Commander, do you know why this is happening? Why all these enemies look sort of like Commander X, and... and what they want?" Another Hunter, overhearing the conversation, nodded and spoke up as well. "Has anybody seen Commander X, either?"

Zero squeezed his eyes closed. _Here it comes._ He knew it was bound to happen if they stopped moving long enough- the questions. Questions they deserved answers to, but which he couldn't answer...

One of the 17th, a Reploid Zero had rescued earlier, lifted his head from trying to repair his own Buster arm and shook his head. "Our unit hasn't seen X since before the fighting started!"

The voices were rising, the questions growing more urgent. All ultimately the same: "Why is this happening?"

Raising his hands for quiet, he opened his mouth and prayed that something coherent and reasonable would come out of it- but before Zero could speak another voice made itself loudly known.

"Friends, Commander Zero is obviously suffering from extreme battle fatigue. I can practically hear his body falling apart from here. I'll ask you to hold your questions for now, if you all quite don't mind. It's enough that we're all still here and alive. Be grateful for that, and try to be patient. We all want to know the truth about tonight's incident."

There was some murmuring, but Zero was no longer paying any attention- the moment he heard the familiar voice he whirled, eyes wide. Though it didn't seem possible, Zero's spirits rose, and he pounced on the bony figure that had just come through the doorway - he actually ran to the human, grabbed him up and embraced him- though, mindful of his strength, not too hard.

"Weil!"

The mechanic was nearly as dirty and bruised as Zero, in torn t-shirt and jeans that looked like he'd been crawling through muddy water, but he grinned irrepressibly at the red Hunter and whacked at the back of his helmet. "Yes, yes, it's your dear friend who's been hiding in miserable ventilation ducts all night from insane robots, I'm happy to see you as well. I was just up there," he pointed, "And heard your voice, so I came down."

Zero didn't let go, and the human could feel the Maverick Hunter trembling. "Zero?"

"Sorry." The Hunter released his favorite human with a weary sigh, resting a hand on Weil's shoulder. "Thanks for that. I..."

"You're nearing your psychological limit," Weil nodded, a hint of disapproval on his long thin face. "I can tell just by looking at you. It's that sensitive side of yours dragging you down... Well, I bet this will cheer you up." He reached under his shirt and tugged out a familiar white hilt from the back of his waistband. "I believe you dropped this while you were barging out of quarantine?"

"GIVE." Zero greedily snatched back the Z-saber hilt and gave an almost orgasmic sigh of relief, flicking it on and eyeing the green plasma blade critically, turning it this way and that, the green glow lighting his battered features. Zero spun the Z-saber idly, passing the weapon from hand to hand as he did with a grim smile of satisfaction. Just having the blade back in his hand made him feel a hundred times more capable- one tiny piece of familiarity. One thing he could absolutely trust.

"I'm a whole Reploid again. Weil, I'm yours for life."

Weil just smirked. "Be careful, Zero, I may just hold you to that. Now, go play with your little sword for a while and I'll see to some of the wounded here." He turned and frowned over the crowd, scratching his head at the extent of the damages, "Anyone have any spare tools?"

* * *

With Weil and a few of the less-damaged Reploids working hard, they'd shortly turned the auditorium into a makeshift hospital, and most of the Hunters with immediately repairable damage had been patched up. Zero, who knew he was butterfingered when it came to impromptu field medicine, had stayed well clear and taken Weil's knowing advice- he'd busied himself in a corner with a series of practice katas, regaining his feel for the Saber as an extension of his form, letting ancient ritual movements wash his grief away. His grace returned with each step, parry and thrust, until he'd regained most of his peace of mind. The Hunters who'd never seen Zero practice before were staring in amazement.

"You're scaring people," Weil chuckled as Zero shook out his hair and sheathed the Saber in its charger on his back.

"I'm a scary guy." They traded smirks.

"Oh, wow!" Mosaic cried out suddenly; all eyes were on her. She blushed a little, but grinned and began to wave her arms wildly. "Everybody, hurry up and turn on your Tag Assist channel! There's good news!"

A mutter moved through the crowd. "Huh? The hell good will that do? Can't radio the teleport server." Zero switched internal receptors over to that channel, remembering the momentary tag he'd felt in Quarantine, and another familiar voice flooded his mind.

"...repeat, Maverick Hunters, this is Alia. We've adapted the Tag Assist satellite to serve as a replacement communication server, so report in! We appear to be out of the woods now, so if you can hear me, please respond direct on this frequency!"

"I'll be damned! That's brilliant!" Zero whistled.

"That's Signas," someone countered, to general laughter.

Zero joined in the laughter, then clicked into the channel- idly wondering how the blonde navi was going to handle processing about seven hundred incoming Tag Assist messages at once, but then again, she was the Lead Navi. "Hey, pirate radio chick! Am I caller number ten? Do I win the mystery prize?"

Alia snorted. "More like caller four hundred and nine. But sure, your special prize is that the Gold Channel's up again. Signas wants to hear from the commanders immediately. Oh, and have you heard from Axl? I'm worried about him. I'm glad you're okay, too."

Zero hoped he could sound convincing. He put on his best lazy, irreverent tone. "Not since I woke up in Quarantine. Betcha he's getting his ass handed to him out there somewhere. Hopefully he'll pick up your message real soon. Hey, I'll clear the link and go bother Signas now, okay?"

"Sure. Thanks, Zero. I know it's been a rough night. I'm sure you worked hard."

Exhaling, Zero cut the link; it was the work of just a moment to switch over his comm to Gold. Though there was some static and sparkle, the connection worked well enough. "Signas, how bad is it?"

"Bad, but not as bad as it could have been. The building's still standing, at least. The Virus is going to be a problem though. We can't get an idea of how many are infected, and there's going to be blood in the halls once the Virus goes acute."

"No shit. Are you teleportable?"

"Yes, it should be safe enough now."

"Good, then I'll be there in pretty much now. I..." He hesitated, but Signas... Signas was a good man. "I need to tell you some stuff you're not gonna like, and I need to tell you in person. I need to talk to someone I can trust."

He hesitated even longer before adding, "It's about X. _The real one_."


	7. The Reason We Exist

Rain, tainted and ashen, whirled down from the black sky in great stabbing sheets, and Axl couldn't bear to look behind at the smoking ruin of Hunter Tower.

Swiping wildly at his wet face, the younger Reploid struggled to keep his grip around X's shattered waist steady and steer his stolen Ride Chaser through the streets of Able City. He was burning energy at an impossible pace trying to keep his Stealth Hyper Mode running powerfully enough to conceal X from view; anyone who could have caught a glimpse would only have seen Axl on the growling hoverbike. He hadn't had the full strength to teleport directly to New Hope after the drone battle.

X was still unconscious; breathing in thin, ragged gasps, his body was limp as a corpse. Axl felt his spirit turning sick at the thought that his commander might not wake- remembering the shock he'd felt in his own chest when Zero had abruptly lashed out and punched through two of X's titanium ribs. "Hang on, X. I'm doin' the best I can," Axl pleaded, green eyes frantically sweeping the dark wet streets for enemies as he turned the Chaser toward the Maverick edge of town, where he knew he could find unmonitored teleporter pads.

There was no fighting now, but there was a weight under the rain that was more unnerving than battle- a sense of anticipation, that something terrible was lurking around every corner. Axl was sure he hadn't just imagined that he'd seen a few of the X-drones moving down other streets, marching with that cold, unsettling motion of theirs. Good luck to any civilian Reploids in their path; there were still buildings on fire visible in the distance.

Axl was beginning to feel lightheaded; he grimaced, tapping into his final sub-tank to refuel, wincing as its meter drained black. Wouldn't be much chance to refill those unless he could make it to Central Tower. "Man, X, if you would wake up right now it'd help a lot. Else I might have to start tapping your sub-tanks to keep this going, and that would really suck!"

As the rain and fear continued to hammer on him Axl began to wonder, _Is this what a Maverick feels like all the time?_

The thought was barely out of his mind when he sensed an air-change, superhot energy roaring toward him; with a gasp, he jerked the Chaser hard to one side as a massive Buster bolt tore up the air. The internal gyro of the Chaser tilted too far from the sudden move, and Axl yelped as the vehicle abruptly flipped, tossed himself and X to the concrete and spun off wildly to smash into a dark storefront nearby. The moment X fell out of his arms the Stealth Hyper Mode lost cohesion, and the blue Maverick suddenly appeared as a crumbled shape on the pavement. Axl gritted his teeth, sour rain stinging long abrasions on his cheek and hands from his faceplant into the street, "X!"

Another charged blast came down on the street, blocking him from moving immediately to X; Axl jerked his head back, twin guns forming with a hard yellow glare in his hands. "Real funny, c'mon out!" He flipped through visual modes at incomprehensible speed- regular, electro, infrared, cyber, night, one of them had to connect and give him a lock!

There! He had something- barely a shadow, but it was enough; someone in their own stealth mode leaping between rooftops to change position, probably to snipe at him again. Axl whipped around, locked and fired in the space of a millisecond, sending a Photon Missile along with his bullets screaming up in a rising arc toward the rooftop. He heard a shriek and smirked with grim satisfaction as the corner of the building he'd caught the shadow leaping toward detonated. Axl hurried back toward X- only to have something else, dark blue and black and a flash of green leap out of a nearby alley at him and fling a fist toward his face.

"Surprise!"

Axl's instinctive recoil was the only thing that saved his head; the fist just barely skimmed over the bridge of his nose as he yanked himself back, curling into a sharp backward roll, bringing his legs up and scissor-kicking at the attacker's arm, hands braced on the sidewalk; he completed his roll, legs bending backward over his head, and came up panting five feet away, between the stranger and X. He brought both barrels up and took up defense, eyes narrowed as he backed up until he was standing over X.

The newcomer smirked widely, crossing his arms over his chest and activating a Defense shield that made his long blue hair gleam bright for a few moments. "Nice reflexes, kid. You've got loads of Zero's _spunk_  all over you." His grin widened, a smug glint in his eyes. "I'm not really here for you, though. I just want him," and he pointed at X. "Lots of _people_  looking for that one. With lots of pretty zenny."

"Over my dead body!" Axl bared his teeth, rage and despair whirling through him. Bounty hunter! That meant it was all real, wasn't it? If these humans were even paying other Reploids to hunt X...

The stranger laughed, hands on his hips, confident. "What a serious look! You must be that kid Axl, then. X and Zero's third wheel." He wasn't new-gen, but he moved all at once and with a speed that startled even Axl; he was up and his mouth was at Axl's ear before the new-gen could adjust his target-lock. "So, just between us." the stranger grinned, "How's it feel to be such a tool?"

His Buster arm glowed savagely, pointed straight down at X- Axl glanced down, eyes widening- and in the frozen second when it seemed like everything was happening at once and time had stopped a sudden counterflare came roaring up from the ground in savage blue-white light, pushing up into and completely destroying the bounty hunter's Buster arm from within.

The blue-haired Reploid fell back howling in pain and clutching at his bleeding, exploded elbow.

X panted savagely from the ground, his Buster arm smoking as rain and emerald sparks ran down his blue armor. "...for Eurasia." He swooned again, but Axl stepped quickly and caught him, pulling him up from the ground.

"We're outta here!" The younger Reploid kicked in his teleporter and prayed, just prayed he found enough energy from somewhere to get them both to Giga City.

* * *

Signas turned toward his trusted soldier when Zero materialized wobbily before him. Both bore the scars of the night's battle in their eyes and bodies. Zero, covered in oil, scars and plasma burns, looked like he'd dragged himself from some junkyard grave; Signas had lost his hat to a huge gash cut down one side of his face while significant portions of his shoulder epaulettes and weapon arm were deeply cracked; his breastplate jewels were shattered or darkened.

Smiling like wolves, they stepped forward and clasped each other's arms in firm friendship. "So, about that pay raise, boss." Zero smirked.

"Cut your hair first," Signas retorted, and they both laughed grimly, letting go and turning as one to frown at the largest functional control panel, which was feeding data from the night and what scraps of information were filtering in through the Tag Assist relink. Zero's eyes moved quickly over the code- no sign of a transmission from Axl- and he felt himself breathing a faint sigh of relief. Maybe the kid'd been smart enough to actually listen to him and go to ground after all.

For a few moments it was comfortable enough not to speak; just stand united- but Signas ultimately knew he had to break the silence, and he took in a long breath before he spoke.

"You said you had something to report about X."

Zero turned toward the Hunter General, feeling tension returning to his shoulders as he braced to give a command performance of half-truths. He reached up to the base of his neck, brushing aside his blonde hair and coaxing out a thick black cord from a usually-hidden port. "Yeah. Can we go direct?"

The Hunter General looked startled. "It's that bad?"

Zero offered the other end of the cable in silence.

* * *

The Giga City branch of the Maverick Hunters was a deeply eccentric group- a ragtag collection of ex-mercenaries, rogues and abandoned experimental models that had come together under the S-class Hunters during the Epsilon Uprising and stuck around to become first the adhoc, then later the official Hunter Base covering the area.

Giga City was still largely a no-man's land: a disjointed collection of small floating islands and research facilities deep above the heart of the Pacific Ocean, most devastated by Epsilon or stripped bare after their topics of experimentation were deemed illegal activity. Its overall strategic value was limited, but fears persisted about the remnants of the labs and that the sheer emptiness of the place would encourage Mavericks to nest there- so, a base was still considered a good idea, even if little happened there day to day.

Physically isolated and already deeply mistrustful of the Federation as a whole, the Giga City Maverick Hunters were bound by especially fierce ties of friendship and loyalty; they looked after their own first and foremost. X, Zero and Axl were their greatest allies and had been their most active defenders in the post-Epsilon days; to a man, the three S-class Hunters were revered in Giga City like few others.

Chief R, a wizened white-haired Reploid in orange armor, now wore the epaulets of the Far Eastern Division Commander - in part thanks to X, who'd also aided in rebuilding him after the Epsilon incident - but little had otherwise changed in Central Tower: Giga City slowly faded into oblivion day by day, and the Reploid was often found gazing up at the sky from the empty heliport pad in remembrance of old friends.

Still, today was going to be different. There was something in the wind. an old soldier, R simply knew it, as sure as anything he'd ever known. An ill fortune was moving toward the city. 

* * *

Cinnamon giggled as she passed through the sliding door into the base bridge and found Nana slumped over her console. "Poor Nana," the white Reploid laughed into her hand, bringing over a small cup of energy drink and setting it down on the console next to her pink-haired friend.

Nana yawned and lifted her head from her console, rubbing boredom from her eyes, giving the Force Metal Generator a shy smile. "Oh, at least the Chief didn't catch me this time." She leaned back against the chair, which squeaked dully, and stretched out her arms; Cinnamon peered at her curiously, childlike face tilted. "Are you sure you don't want to do that transfer to the North American branch after all?"

"And leave you all stranded without a Navi?" Nana countered. "I couldn't do that! No, there'll be a time when this place becomes important again." She tilted her head back, heaving a wistful sigh. "I'm sure of it. And I'd rather be here with all my friends and bored than."

And then she paused, her whole body seeming to freeze; her eyes went wide, wider, and she seemed to stop breathing. Cinnamon blinked. "Nana?"

All at once the pink Navi flew to her keyboard, thin fingers of one hand pressing to her earpiece while she typed furiously with the other. "Is that true?" she cried into her headset. "Oh, no! How many casualties? What is Signas going to do?"

Cinnamon felt Nana's stress levels spiking and put a hand on the Navi's shoulder to reassure her. "What is it? What's wrong?"

Chief R hurried into the control center; seeing Nana already frantically typing, he nodded and moved instead to Cinnamon, speaking to her calmly. "Go tell the Professor we'll need him to drop whatever he's working on now and get the triage lab ready. We have incoming wounded."

The Force Metal generator paled. "Right away, sir!" She turned and sprinted away.

Nana glanced up at R as he came to her side, and they traded a long, anxious look. "Able City was attacked tonight," she breathed. "Hunter Tower came under heavy fire from an invasion force of corrupted new-gen drone soldiers. Hundreds of injuries and casualties, many infected with a new strain of the Maverick Virus. Central just issued a lockdown order to all branches."

R shivered, shaken by the news. "That's not all, Nana," he replied grimly. "Ready some of your best Mechaniloids for immediate deployment to the Lagrano Ruins." He turned and faced the vast holographic screen floating in the air before them, his voice trembling. "A few moments ago, I received a critical distress call from our friend Axl. He and Commander X are on their way here- if Axl can survive the strain of teleporting both of them. We must be prepared to render immediate aid."

"Not them too." Nana touched her hands to her face, feeling dread turning her core turn to ice. If the S-class Hunters were beaten, what hope did any Hunter have? No, there wasn't time for such thoughts. she quickly turned back to her terminal and opened up a link to her deployment staging ground. "Y-yes! Right away! Should I inform Central that we'll be taking them on?"

Something moved R then, a whisper in his core, and he shook his head. "No. For now, let's keep that to ourselves, Nana. In fact, I'll ask you to hack the teleport servers and erase their track after they arrive. If something is hunting the Maverick Hunters, they will certainly want to go after the S-class Hunters more than any others. Once they're safe with us, set us into full lockdown and cancel the Air Bus service too. Let's make it harder for the enemy to get at our friends."

* * *

In the end, Axl didn't really know how he made it to Giga City. When he and X materialized in the rubble of the darkened testing hall on the 5th floor, he was nearly shut down dead; he couldn't feel anything, couldn't hear, couldn't see, his generators stilled to a lethargic murmur from severe fuel depletion.

There was only one thing he was sure of, a sureness that stayed with him even as he slid unconscious to the stones in near-terminal system crash. X had done something, somehow. Just for a moment, just as Axl's energy had totally failed, X had lifted his head, murmured something, and there was a sort of surge that seized them, pulled them swiftly across the final space remaining.

Ten minutes later, a Killer Mantis and a Big Monkey lumbered out of the shadowy stairwell at the side of the hall. Exchanging quick bursts of binary, the giant Mechaniloids carefully gathered up the exhausted Maverick Hunters and reported their findings to their mistress.

* * *

Nana turned to R. "They're safe," she exhaled, her hand still on her earpiece. "We have them."

* * *

Signas cursed as he yanked Zero's cable out of his neck port. "Let me see if I'm completely clear on this," Signas rumbled; head already pounding from his wounds and not improving with Zero's shared data. "The most widely respected Reploid in history - the standard bearer of human/Reploid relations - is now charging human beings with kidnapping, identity theft and global terrorism? A standing Lieutenant General of the Maverick Hunters was stolen out from under our noses for nearly two decades and _every single one of us who knew him failed to perceive this_? Does this accurately sum up the situation?"

Zero nodded tightly. "That's about the size of it." _Not including the parts I left out where we kissed, and he said he's willing to be called a Maverick, and that I deliberately let Axl escape with him, anyway._

There was a far less comfortable silence, and Signas sank deep into thought; Zero knew the Hunter General was running scenarios and simulations at nearly the speed of light, examining all the possible outcomes with his superior processors. Finally the large Reploid stirred. His face was pale, and his voice a thin, haunted whisper; the knowledge of history unwritten and inevitable tormenting his gaze.

"If what X has said bears true... He'll be declared state rogue and a Maverick," he warned Zero. "The Federation will decide it. I can't see how that won't be the case; someone powerful enough to contain X for that long will have that kind of power in the political and social arenas as well. We survived this night, but we'll be effectively finished as Hunters, as Reploids, once that declaration is made public. They may believe that we are not willing to Hunt our own- especially considering how much X means to us- and that makes us all guilty by association. We may even be disbanded to prevent us from giving X support, a fighting force. We can assume that tonight was an attempt to cripple us- which means that his captors are already aware of X's escape. And we don't have any evidence to back up his claims or defend ourselves or him." A pause, and then a hard, stern look at Zero. "Do we?"

Zero stiffened, struggling to control his face, keep it as neutral as he could- though he felt as if he'd been punched in the gut. Disbanding the Maverick Hunters meant the last meaningful barrier holding back humanity from taking full control over Reploids would fall. Shadows darkened his eyes. "No, sir. I can't help but think that anyone that wants to destroy we Reploids would use X. So I agree with you. We're being painted into a corner."

"And, to justify their actions, we've all been infected with this new Virus- their Virus- making it easier to label us later."

"Exactly." Outrage and the Virus twisted together inside Zero's chest, and he shifted on his feet. "What if we go public first? We definitely have the damage to show we were attacked, and those drones are X-ish enough that we can claim any statements made about X could be based on these false copies."

Signas touched his forehead, considering this. "Possible, but without evidence to support our claim. it could be seen as provocative."

"We have plenty of bodies to prove it with," Zero noted savagely, and suddenly remembered something else. "And Weil took samples of the new strain off me for analysis. He was able to knock it out of my system. That might still be in Quarantine's backup files. Taking the offense could buy us a couple of days."

"Which we could use to gather hard evidence," Signas began to nod. "It's not much more than stalling, but."

Zero lifted his head, eyes locking to the other Reploid's. "Do you see any other way? It might incite the humans against us, but if we just lie down and don't defend ourselves, we lose it all anyway."

Signas turned, hands behind his back. "Agreed. The fate of the Maverick Hunters- of all Reploids- is at stake. Zero, you know what I'm going to ask of you."

"Yeah. Go get the evidence and bring it home before we all get hosed."

The Hunter General rubbed his eyes, pain in his face. "Repair yourself as quickly as possible and go. Find X and verify his story. Bring him back if you can- we can protect him better here if he's innocent, and we can contain him better by ourselves if he's become Maverick. I'll stall for as much time as I can. I hope that Weil's cure will be able to protect us from the Virus if we act quickly. But this isn't going to be like Repliforce, Zero. I'm not going to repeat the mistakes of the past."

"That's all we ever _do_ ," Zero growled, not liking the reminder of one of the most painful incidents of his life. _Iris, is this your revenge?_   "I'll tell you this much for sure. Mistakes made in the past are the only reason we Reploids even _exist_."


	8. Sons and Fathers I

The ancient man, thin and brittle as old bone, stood at the railing and looked down over the factory floor. Deep, constant pounding thundered through the length of the production line- at full speed, the automated line could roll out a hundred battle-drone Reploids an hour.

It had been running at full capacity for seven days straight.

 _Thoom._ Metal plates of sapphire blue were hammered into shape by huge moulds and presses. _Thoom._ Programmed arms moved tirelessly, welding and drilling parts into place, rotating and grasping and locking in. _Thoom._ Red jewels were screwed into blank white faceplates. The jewels burned red as the unit came alive. Finished drones, gleaming rawly, stepped forward onto a conveyor belt in perfect unison: one step, one mind, one purpose.

He stood on a railing at the end of the line, watching the drones fill up the room below him, filing themselves into neat rows. His savage heart swelled with malevolent pleasure.

"What a waste of time."

The man turned slowly. A Reploid had drawn up beside him, long and black, edged in gold, taller than he; sharp ruby eyes gazed snidely along the sea of drones.

"Why are you bothering with these junky things? Drones are pathetic fighters. They'll just slow me down." The Reploid's eyes snapped sideways to glare at the ancient human. "I don't want anything getting in my way when I fight him."

"Patience," the man said, but he smiled a little. "You'll see your brother soon."

"Correction. You'll be seeing that girly-bot's _pieces_ soon, old man." The Reploid sniggered, and the old man made a dismissive gesture. "The fact that you actually had to rebuild _me_ tells me all I need to know about _Zero_." Sneering, the Reploid crossed his arms over his chest.

"Ach, you haven't changed at all, Forte."

"But you keep getting older and uglier, old man." And Forte smirked back.

Albert Wily's hands clenched on the railing like claws, blue eyes hard as a hawk's. His breath wheezed and rattled out of his throat, and he spared his creation a momentary glance. Human and Reploid eyes locked, and Wily murmured darkly. "Maybe not for much longer, ya?"

Forte - for an instant- frowned, and then he turned away with a dismissive sound.

"Don't be stupid. Hurry up and finish with your toys. I'm tired of waiting."

"I will." Soon, very soon.

And Wily smiled.

* * *

Weil gently pressed the last panel on Zero's arm back into place and left his hands there a moment on the red gauntlet, lingering as he met Zero's cool blue stare.

The red Hunter glanced around and let out a breath. "I feel like I'm being kicked out of the house."

"You don't usually feel that way before a mission, do you?"

Zero shook his head grimly. "No. And I shouldn't. But I feel," he took in another breath, "Like this is the last time I'll see the place."

The thin human snorted. "Like there's anything to miss here!" He denoted the broken wiring and plaster around them, unconscious or wounded Hunters lying gasping on top of bullet-riddled desks that had been pressed into double duty as emergency workbenches. "Listen, Zero." the human removed his hands from the Reploid's wrist and took a breath. "I've said it before, and I'll say it again. Your feelings interfere with your efficiency, and from the sound of it it's only getting worse. This mission..."

"I know what it means." Zero slid off the table, and began to grab at his hair to pull it back into its customary bushy ponytail. Pressing his helmet on, Zero threaded his hair back through the helmet's slot, and shook his head to let the huge blond mass settle. "If I fail, there won't be anything to come back to." A yellow dot appeared in the corner of his vision, accompanied by a soft tone, and he touched his earpiece to answer.

"Go ahead, Alia."

"I've gotten back the ballistics reports from the shell casings used by the drones during the attack, the Navi informed Zero. "I've also investigated the outputs of several high-production capacity Reploid factories. It looks like your hunch was right. There's been an increased rate of activity coming out of a factory in the South Pacific. Sorry, but it's in the city of Deltunis."

"Figures", Zero replied tersely. He and X (no, not X, dammit!) had been dispatched two years prior to attempt to contain a Reploid labor riot there. The worker 'loids had been rioting due to maltreatment by the corrupted human officials in the area, there'd been a couple of high-powered Maverick agitators in the crowd, and the whole thing had ended up as a bloody disaster for everyone. A lot of innocents had been hurt in the fighting, and the whole affair had cost the Hunters some badly needed credibility on the larger stage.

He'd regretted that incident a long time, and had always wondered if he'd made the best choices there. He shook his head, bringing himself back to the present.

"Thanks for the info, but that isn't where I'll be heading first."

"What do you mean?"

"Tell you when I'm on the road."

Zero sealed his armor and fit the Z-saber's hilt into its slot behind his shoulder, allowing himself one more system check. His body was green; only his heart felt troubled. As unready as the Maverick Hunter felt inside, he felt equally strongly that he was now simply wasting time. And the ache in his body, low and quiet, still pulled him toward X.

"It's been real, Weil."

"Hmph. Get going, relic. You'll be back here needing me to patch you up in no time."

Zero gave Weil a taut nod before escaping the cramped and crowded room.

Weil turned his attention back to his computer; he glanced carefully about himself before deftly typing a complex password and opening up a small screen. Only a single green bar on black showed in the window, a progress meter with a simple label.

CONSTRUCTION PROGRESS: 98.7% COMPLETE.

Don't worry about your fate, Zero. I'll make sure there's never a world without you in it.

Weil closed the file with satisfaction, then turned and eyed the long line of Hunters who were still able to stand, waiting for someone to attend to them. He grinned and bellowed, "Okay! Who's next?"

* * *

The Ride Chaser purred beneath him, scattering muddy puddles when Zero gunned the ending- he was on the clock now, and that clock was ticking fast. His running lights and the Chaser's headlights were the only colors in a murky atmosphere, trailing streaks of red and green light in the dark when he turned a corner and eased himself onto the highway leading out of Able City. A starless brown sky hung low above, city lights from the massive tower blocks bouncing back from low-hanging clouds of smoke. The rain had stopped, but the streets were slick and treacherous.

Once he was on the Straight Road- a long stretch of straight, even highway- Zero relaxed slightly and rekeyed Alia's frequency again, speaking aloud into the radio now that he was alone.

"You said earlier there was a factory with boosted output. So who owns it? Who's pulling the strings on those puppets?"

Alia paused, and her reply came back nervous. "Connell Douglas."

Zero felt his core freeze. "That's not possible. The analysis must be wrong."

"I know it's hard to hear. I didn't believe it either. But the ballistics match- they contain the right ID sequences."

"And who else would know our security so intimately as to be able to shut us down at the moment the attack started," Zero growled. "Shit, that's all we need. Our own weapons supplier turning on us." _X, you were telling the truth, weren't you? Have humans finally decided to do away with Reploids after all?_

"I know. They have our exclusive security contract, our weapons design and manufacture contracts, they liaison between us and the Federation. Zero, I don't know what to do."

"Stop worrying about that. There's nothing we can do now," Zero told the Lead Navi tersely. "Except what we always do."

"What's that?" She sounded unhappy.

Zero paused, then grinned savagely, "Kick ass and save the world."

A soft, sad laugh came back over the link, and Zero could almost see Alia wiping at her eyes, brushing away the starting of tears. "Stay strong like that, Zero."

"I don't plan to change. Zero out." Zero cut the link then, because he was nearing the target.

* * *

Stilling the Ride Chaser's engines, Zero put his foot down on the barren stone ground overlooking the ruins of the Weapon Center, then dismounted the hoverbike. His memory placed the object here.

Zero stepped forward cautiously through the ruins, his Saber drawn. Even though he knew the area was long abandoned by Mavericks, and his sensors were reading green all around, he still flexed his fingers about the hilt of the Saber.

Moving by the cold green light of his weapon, he pushed through the vast shadows surrounding him. The light slithered off the walls, picking out narrow lines of broken rubble and fragments of Illumina, the massive battle robot's shards long since rusted over and smothered in overgrown weeds.

It should be nearby.

Zero stopped to catch his breath. He hadn't been running, hadn't been fighting, but he was panting. His core was pounding, his skin was flushed.

 _I'm terrified_ , he realized. _I don't want to find out that I'm right._

He shook his head, brushing his wrist over his brow, and forced himself to breathe, just breathe.

_Hmph. Next I'll be seeing Nightmares. Standing here freaking out is useless. It won't change what's already happened._

He sighed hard and opened his eyes with fresh determination- he steeled himself to go on. Even if he dreaded every step.

* * *

The capsule was where Zero remembered it, dark and inert, a green cylinder of glass a bit taller than himself. His scanners read that it still held power; he wondered about that, when the rest of the area had been torn open, stripped bare by salvagers and thieves, and left rotting. How had the capsule escaped notice?

_We've taken these for granted for so long, haven't we, X? So handy, always there everywhere when we need them. We never bothered to investigate them properly._

Anxiety chewing at his wiring, Zero stepped forward, shifting his Saber to his left hand, and reached out with his right to brush his fingertips lightly against the capsule. It was vibrating, humming faintly- and at his touch it came alive, lights along the surface blinking on.

Zero stepped back as the familiar figure of a sad, tiredly smiling human, rotund and with a snow-white beard - X's creator, Doctor Thomas Light - formed within the capsule. But his expression almost instantly changed, from the wistful smile that Zero remembered to something frantic. His eyes were wide, his brow furrowed with alarm, and he seemed to look straight into Zero's core.

"Zero, it's truly you?"

Zero swallowed sharply, nodded. "As far as I know."

The hologram of Light seemed to inhale. "Thank God. Thank God. I hoped you'd come."

"You know what's happening, then."

"Yes." The hologram looked sadder and tireder than before, hunched over, shoulders around his ears. "I'm so sorry, Zero. I should have contacted the Maverick Hunters months ago. I should have contacted you. I was afraid. We both were. Thank God your intuition brought you here."

"That's fine, but..." Zero's eyes snapped open, and he raised the Saber sharply toward the hologram. "I didn't come to hear your excuses. I came for the truth. Everything you've kept from us; it's time."

"You're right, Zero. Forgive me."

Light stepped out of the capsule.

He was a brilliant form of sapphire energy, shaped like himself and shimmering; Zero'd never seen anything like it, and he stared in amazement. Power, so like X's that it made Zero's chest ache, flowed out from him.

"The blue light." he whispered, shaken. X had told him, much later, about the warm glow he'd seen at the end of the Fifth Uprising. "You've been in this world all along!" He heard himself choking on his own words.

Dr. Thomas Light nodded once and slowly, aware of the pain Zero felt. "Zero, please enter this capsule. The answers you seek will be given to you."

Zero hesitated, licked his lips. "How do I know I can trust you?"

Light looked pained. "I can certainly promise you anything you like, but only you can decide what to do now. At this time, I can only beg you to help me, and X, and to forgive a frightened old man's mistakes."

Zero shivered, struggling with his feelings. "All right." Zero deactivated the Saber and sheathed it on his back. He moved forward, and stepped through the capsule's green curtain of energy.

Warmth enveloped him, a warmth so like X's...

* * *

Far away, Wily stiffened, a sharp pain lancing through his chest, and his eyes leapt to the inert black capsule that stood at the corner of the room. The capsule had just burst into life, and a flickering green image now stood within it that made the old man's heart burn. Wily heard words being spoken that, although veiled by thick static, were just legible enough.

He gaped a moment as he listened, then growled and tapped his cane sharply on the floor to summon Forte.

"It is time. Go now," he rasped. "Strike with all of your strength."

Forte leered, eyes the color of blood flashing. " _Finally_."

The black Reploid led a mass teleport; the room that had been packed to the walls with patiently silent drones was empty a moment later.

* * *

"It is true, Zero, that I, the man named Doctor Light, died more than a hundred years ago. But before I died, I created a small handful of support capsules for X. Many, many years of conflict before his birth had taught me to 'pray for peace but prepare for war'; I knew that he might also be needed to fight when he awakened. I didn't want to leave X alone in a strange world, so while I still had my full faculties, I made an engram of my memories and transferred it to one of the computers that support these capsules. That engram, and those original capsules, slept peacefully for many years, until the seal on X was broken. when he awoke, so did I."

Zero nodded. "So you're an electronic life form."

"Yes, that would be a good way to explain it, Zero. Like you and X, I have also been learning and growing anew in this world since my awakening. Each time you or X speak with me in a capsule like this, I scan your systems -harmlessly, I promise- and acquaint myself with your current troubles.

I became aware of Sigma, the Mavericks, yourself. all the hopes and dangers of this world as expressed in your own and X's memories. I knew that the Maverick War would require you both to continue to fight, and so from the powers of the initial four capsules, I began to create more, and always made sure that they were on hand for you when you needed them. I locked them to your bodies, your very unique data patterns that you call DNA.

"Where I went wrong was in assuming that that would be enough. I never dreamed that new-gen Reploids would be created, with the ability to access your DNA patterns and use these capsules. I never imagined that humans would wish to harm X, who was designed to be a friend to all mankind, or to manipulate him for their own ends.

I was so concerned about managing X's potential for danger that I forgot the dangers of human beings. Looking at it now, I see my naivete."

"I guess that couldn't be helped," Zero murmured. "We should have destroyed your capsules, each and every one, after X upgraded with them, but it didn't occur to us either."

Light sighed. "Hindsight is 20/20, isn't it? At the very least, as of this moment all the other capsules are deactivated. You won't need to worry about them. I was only waiting for you, hoping that you'd come to me, to do that."

"But X got here before me, didn't he." Zero braced himself to ask the question he dreaded. "Is X Maverick?"

"X is... in pain. I did what I could to stabilize his mind once he was brought to me, but the shock of the humans turning on him was more than even his programming could accommodate."

"Don't protect him," Zero rasped, feeling his gut twisting. "Just tell me the truth. Is he Maverick now?"

The engram of Light lowered his head and nodded once, his lips pressed tight in silent regret.

"No." Everything in Zero's mind tilted, and his knees began to shake. " _No._ " Zero swung his fist blindly at Light, his fist passing through the gleaming blue energy to disturbing its surface for a few moments. "Damn you! You made this possible!"

Light never lost his calm, sad benevolence, liquid blue eyes pitying as Zero thrashed and roared. "Zero. I understand your anger and your grief. I even share it. But you must let this capsule complete its program. It is not yet time to despair."

Zero snapped his head up, gaze challenging, tormented. He panted, struggling to contain himself, rage and the Virus burning beneath his armor, just under his skin. "eh-Explain yourself."

"Better, I'll show you!" The holographic image of Light smiled fondly.

"Zero, please prepare your systems to receive new data. I am installing within you the Luminous Seraph upgrade for X- his final upgrade- and the perfect antidote to the Maverick Virus and its variants for all Reploids."


	9. Sons and Fathers II

"So this is the future that Light was always blathering about."

Forte teleported into the ruins of the Weapon Center, landing on his feet in a flare of violet power, hands raised; red eyes flashed and scowled as he glanced around.

"Che, what a dump." Forte snorted, folding his arms across his chest and giving a quick eye to the terrain- mostly slanted red metal platforms leading toward open pits, slick with lichen and crumbling with rust. Behind him, groups of Pantheons arrived in clusters, teleporting in blue and white flashes here and there in Forte's peripheral vision. The 'general' of the Pantheons moved behind Forte and tapped him; binary scrawled red across its ruby-studded faceplate.

"This ground isn't even fit for fighting on. What?"

The Pantheon flashed a query at Forte, who growled in response. "I don't care what you do! Just stay out of my way. I'll deal with Zero."

Forte whistled sharply, and a purple flare fell from the sky to land beside him, a form of energy that threw back its head and howled at the yellow moon visible through the shattered roof of the ruins. Forte gave a laugh and leapt to the air, the purple form bounding forward and wrapping itself tightly around his frame, reshaping his body. Keen purple wings opened wide from his shoulders, new armor forming on the black Reploid. Forte soared forward, purple energy scattering behind him like the trail of a comet. The Pantheons surged forward in clusters below him, skittering along the ground and hopping over broad breaks in the decrepit platforms.

* * *

_The cure._

Zero's core twisted in fear and ecstacy. His attention turned inward, focusing on the slow crawl of the marker that indicated continual data reception. Slowly, by moments, the indicator blurred from red to yellow and edged toward green. Zero's hope, bitter and dry, rose with it.

_The cure, X. It means we can stop this. All of this. We can still build our future, but only if you and the humans don't do things that can't be taken back!_

But he couldn't escape the questions, the skepticism and the doubt: _Why didn't you give this to X? Why didn't you tell us you were developing this? Why did it take so long? How many lives could have been saved if you hadn't been so damn secretive, Light?_

"It wasn't ready yet, Zero. I'm afraid that's the simple answer. Remember, I am still very new to the changes that have taken place in Reploids since X and your creations. It took me a great deal of time before I found the real source of the problem. Please understand. I needed to cross check the data against your DNA one last time before I was completely sure that the cure would be effective."

Zero startled, eyes lifting, flashing. _You're reading my mind. **Don't do that.**_

But a soft laugh echoed inside his mind. _I'm afraid you'll be carrying me with you temporarily. Just until we can get this data safely to X. As an apology for your trouble, though, I've prepared another upgrade for you as well._

"I'm not comfortable with this, Light." Something clicked in the edge of Zero's vision; his scanning window pushed to forefront and swept over everything, flashing brilliant warnings. Red target-markers were becoming visible at the edges of his sensor range, moving in large clusters of ten and fifteen at a time. Moving toward him. Zero gave up counting after he registered 100 signals; his mind swum with their beacons.

"Dammit, we have company," Zero hissed, fidgeting inside the curtain of green and blue light that held him still. "Hurry up." A new signal roared into range, moving fast above them. This one felt strong and Zero's body shivered, his core thrumming eagerly as his systems shifted into battle preparation. _Another copy of X? No, this feels different._ He frowned. _Familiar differently._

Light seemed to become aware of it too; the AI's energy envelope shifted around Zero's body, giving the Maverick Hunter an impression that it was fidgeting with anxiety as it glanced around. _Zero, this enemy, this time... This is a fight I fear you can not win._

"Don't you know me better than that by now?" Zero's eyebrow raised.

A massive violet disc shredded away the top of the capsule.

The blue light enveloping Zero dissipated in a static screech. Oil and orange sparks from the devastated capsule's roof splashed over his shoulders and helmet. His core lurched: _the data_! He checked it in a panic; his system showed the download was complete- by a matter of seconds. A new process, Light's engram, was filed in his system, running in the background at low power. _Good. Even if you mean well, I don't want your interference._ Zero double-jumped free of the shattered cylinder and stood on its sawed-off rim to get a glimpse of the enemy.

The enemy was hovering overhead, purple-winged and black, scowling, his arms crossed over his chest. The horde of drones was moving in behind him, surrounding them and crowding every platform Zero could see; he began to feel the first pings of their target-locks flashing like hornets along his armor.

Forte glared down at the blond Hunter. "I bet you don't even remember me, do you, _Zero_?" Contempt and malice were in his voice, and his eyes were boiling red.

Zero stared back, astonished. The shape of the armor, the carriage of the body. _No, I don't know you. But I feel like I should._

Zero reached up for his Saber and clicked it on, shaken by a faded deja-vu, by the memory of his nightmare, a hundred busters pointed at his head from above. _Take out the horde, or take this one on. Damn, this is a bad place to get cornered._

"Well, it doesn't matter. You won't _live_ long enough to remember!" Forte's eyes narrowed, and there wasn't time for Zero to puzzle over the words; instinct screamed to move, and he leapt up an instant before Forte and the drone soldiers opened fire on his position, howling shots of orange and violet energy splintering the remnants of the capsule as Zero leapt free.

Zero flashed red and white as he abruptly teleported away from the center of the heavy fire and directly into the center of a cluster of drones. A quick, savage forward-thrust of the Saber, crackling with purple lighting, quickly demolished the drones around him before they could refocus, and he teleported out and to another group just as fast; he had nearly fifty of them down in a matter of seconds.

Forte whirled in midair, shocked at Zero's speed and snarling at his elusiveness. "Forget them, Zero! Your fight's with me!" He growled and flung a hard, fast-moving disk of purple light into a group of drones that Zero had just teleported into; the Hunter gasped and barely cleared the space, just missing being bisected by a series of violet plasma blasts from the other Reploid's buster.

Zero chuckled, catching on immediately.

The Maverick Hunter began jumping and teleporting from group to group, platform to platform, his hair swirling around his shoulders as he flung himself about with abandon, letting Forte destroy each of the clusters of drones in turn.

Forte was growing visibly enraged, face flushing as he spun to toss bursts of buzzsaw-shaped energy and large charged shots in all directions. "Fight _me_! Zero!"

In a few moments little remained of the Pantheon hordes but burned and smouldering scrap, and Zero stopped leaping around the pits to land- delicately and flawlessly balanced- on one of the thin metal rods crossing between the gaps. He crossed his arms and grinned up, "Oh, you're still here?" He couldn't help a smirk. "Guess it's just you and me, then."

Panting, Forte brushed at his mouth, beginning to grin bloody, hovering just out of the range of Zero's Saber. "Too bad you can't fly." He flipped himself in the air, a show-off swoop, laughing before he flung his arm out stiffly, aiming directly for the center of Zero's brow, energy growing rapidly behind the buster's lens.

Zero simply raised his eyebrow, deeply amused. "Oh, I can't, huh?" He leapt hard, straight up as Forte opened fire, and a rippling sphere of black and purple lightning rippling curled around his frame.

Forte roared and shot into it, but the energy was simply absorbed.

What rose from the transformation was a hellish shadow on huge black bat wings set with bare, thick conduits that burned fiery red and gold. Absolute Zero howled with glee and soared up into Forte's chest, grabbing the black Reploid's shoulders with massive clawed hands and pushing them both high into the air, nearly through the Weapon Center's delapidated roof. "Wonder what else you think you know about me," Zero taunted, "I promise, it isn't nearly enough."

Zero began to beat Forte viciously in mid-air, laying down a series of brutal blows, uppercuts and gut-punches one after another, staggeringly heavy and yet unblockably fast. Forte staggered and gasped, staring at Zero's serene, focused expression in a daze. Zero roundhoused him away after thirty five blows; Forte fell away in a bloody spiral, twisting in midair at the last moment to catch himself and land, gasping, at the peak of a sharply slanted platform. Blood ran from his nose and mouth.

"Impossible. that's not in your specs." Forte twisted as Zero alighted gently behind him, hovering a few inches from the platform with serenity. Forte shrieked, "You weren't built with that power! How?"

Zero smirked, but his eyes were humorless. A thought of Weil flashed through him briefly, the upgrade that he'd made for Zero that had been stolen and recovered again months later in the unlikeliest place. "You'll never know." He moved closer, drifting slow and implacable over the platform, wings wide, angled in for the kill.

And then Zero dash-drifted forward, his icy red claws digging into Forte's shoulder, and into the left Gospelboost wing. Pain like Forte had never known before raced through his arm and down his back as Zero calmly ripped the wing away from his shoulder with bloody hands and threw it away into the dark.

Screaming, Forte blindly opened fire on the Hunter, letting out a crazed stream of violet-black shots that riddled and cracked Zero's shoulders, chest and upper arms when the blond demon quickly threw up his arms to protect his head. Through the sheer force of his constant firing Forte was able to push a grunting Zero back, back, a few feet. He gritted his teeth, Wily's wheezing voice echoing in his memory as he kept firing, kept firing, kept firing, doing anything he could to slow Zero down for even a few moments.

_Come here, Forte, look at these designs. Listen well. what I tell you now may give you victory against Zero. it may even save your life, ja? This is Zero's weakness. His only physical weakness, hee hee. It is electricity. It was deliberate. I needed a fail-safe if I should lose control. I have recovered the weapons of King's Masters and given them to you. so you will use them! Defeat Zero and return him to me!_

_Easier said than done, old man. but I don't need cheap tricks like that!_ Forte shifted his aim slightly, away from Zero's head, and retargetted the Hunter's huge black wings. He opened fire, utterly riddling one of them into shreds. Zero's eyes went wide, wide and wild, and he screamed incoherently, sparks lashing across the ruined framework of his wing and down his shoulder, dropping sharply to a onesided tilt as his other wing struggled to compensate.

"On your knees, Zero, ON YOUR KNEES!" Forte screamed, staggering forward and targetting the other wing, rapidly blowing it apart as well. Smoke poured from Zero's shoulders, and the Maverick Hunter only barely managed to catch himself at the edge of a platform before plummeting into it.

Forte laughed in mad, dizzy triumph. I'm going to win! "You're not the strongest robot! I am! I'll always be the strongest one of us! Ahahahahahah!" He dashed over and kicked Zero in the face as the blond was struggling to get back onto the platform. "FALL!"

"N-no." Zero clung to the platform, with his claws sunk an inch deep into the old metal, blood and oil in his eyes and mouth. "I won't. I won't lose. I won't let you - hhh- take away our future!"

"'Our' future?" Forte sneered, stomping on Zero's hand over and over. "The only future you have is to become _scrap_!" Zero's knuckles began to burst inside. Zero struggled to remain conscious, tasting sour fluids on his tongue, vision strobing and unraveling, knowing with utter dread that if he blacked out even for an instant, he would lose; lose X's upgrade, lose everything.

Zero rallied his fading strength for one more push, sheer desperation and Viral rage filling his empty body a final time. "Our future. X. I'll do whatever it takes to make it happen!" And somehow, Zero moved one more time, flipped himself up heels over head, landed shaking and tattered on the platform and pushed his shoulder into Forte with an unholy cry. He stabbed the deadly hooked claws of his right hand into Forte's chest, through the dark purple jewel set at the center, clawtips drilling down to an inch and a wire from Forte's core.

The black Reploid howled too, and drew an arm back, dark energy crackling around his fingertips as, gasping, he called on his own last reserves. His colors shifted from purple and black to mauve and black, and lightning rolled around his fingers.

Zero understood in an instant, the meaning of the color change. He'd been too long at X's side not to know. _Fuck._

They stared at each other, red eyes to blue, gasping and panting, locked tight and quivering with mutual hatred.

Deep inside Zero, the secondary process of the engram of Light suddenly reared up and roared to life, taking over all his senses, urgently crying to Zero: _Move yourself into me, you must hurry! Merge your process with this one- let me protect your core data!_

Zero spun and fled down deep into his body, abandoning everything except his most critical core processes.

"Say goodnight, _little brother_. Don't ever forget. _I'm_ the one Wily made strongest. _I'm_ the one that can't be beaten. All you are is a useless copy of _me_." Forte curled around Zero to hold him from escaping, and shoved his crackling fist into Zero's chest, flooding him with a full tank charge of Dynamo Man's weapon, Lightning Bolt. Relays and conduits burned inside Zero, melting into slag; purple sparks lightning burst out of Zero's mouth as his head rolled back, and the blond crumpled to his knees against Forte with a dull, melted-throat moan.

Forte put his hand to his torn chest, wheezing, and reached down to grabbed a fistful of Zero's pale blond hair, yanking him up by it. Zero gave no resistance, sparks flashing all along his body, a deep smell of roasted, burned wiring emanating from within him.

It was over. Forte, gasping, kept his grip on Zero's hair as he activated his teleporter to return them both to Wily.


	10. No Future

Signas knew what was coming, even before Alia's signal entered the Gold channel. Sparks flashed along his sore shoulder, though his stiff black hair. He allowed himself his exhaustion and frustration; no one could be expected to maintain optimal performance after everything that had happened in the last 24 hours.   
  
"Sir, I..." Emotion was overcoming her; he heard it in her voice, in the low tremble at the far end of her register. "We just lost Zero's signal. It disappeared in the ruins of the Weapon Center. I picked up a number of other signals at the site...a ... a huge number. I know we weren't supposed to be monitoring, but..."   
  
And it still felt like a kick in the crotch.   
  
He breathed in, once, leaning forward over his desk and shielding his eyes, his other hand pressing down on the desk so hard he felt his knuckle-joints creaking in agony. Grief twisted at his core- the aching realization that  _nothing they could do would stop what was coming._  It was the worst-outcome scenario out of several that he'd foreseen unfolding in front of him, and he wondered, grimly now, if the next 12 hours would run all the way to the highest projected probability point. Zero's defeat had loomed large in his calculations, but there was still more to come; Signas had never expected their frantic plan to succeed.   
  
The percentages were just too low.   
  
He closed his eyes, rubbing his bruised forehead and grimacing, grinding the probabilities and factors in his mind, looking for a way out-  _any_  way out- but a sudden surge of irritation ran through him.  _As if my friends' lives are just numbers in a formula._  After that realization he found renewed strength, pushing back his pessimism, dismissing the broad web of chances and potential outcomes ( _there is no future_ ) from his thoughts.  _It doesn't matter what the odds are. Fate turns on random factors... the factor of X..._    
  
"We've put our trust in Zero. Don't give up on him that easily. He may have decided to mask his signal; he may be injured but not destroyed; it's possible he even allowed himself to be captured to get closer to the enemy. Without being there on the ground, we can't say for sure. In any case, we go on as planned."   
  
She hesitated; he could hear it, and he felt his core shrink with her doubt. "You have to be ready for this. Be strong. We no longer live in a world where any future is certain."  
  
He realized he was really telling it to himself. Projection was worthless now...   
  
"Yes, sir."   
  
 _She's a good Reploid._  "Is everything ready for the conference?"  
  
"Yes, It's all set. Some of them are already here downstairs waiting for you."   
  
"Please let them know I'm on my way."   
  
He pushed away from his chair and stood, his bulky armor feeling heavier than before, his fingertips lingering on the edge of the desk. Zero had gone willingly into the unknown, led by a fleeting and desperate hope. Now it was his turn to do the same.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And that's all she wrote, folks. I hit a wall and couldn't quite make the chapter that was meant to follow from here work out without it turning into a massive wall of tl;dr. Thanks for reading!


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